UC-NRLF 


B    3    133 


>>.,;.  ••• 


'..,' 


•*    '        «rf 


STORIES    OF    GEORGIA 


BY 

JOEL    CHANDLER    HARRIS 


NEW   YORK  •:•  CINCINNATI  •:•  CHICAGO 

AMERICAN   BOOK   COMPANY 

1896 


COPYRIGHT,  1896,  BY 
AMERICAN   BOOK  COMPANY. 


STO.  OF  GA. 
W.   F.   I 


PREFACE. 


IN  preparing  the  pages  that  follow,  the  writer  has  had  in 
view  the  desirability  of  familiarizing  the  youth  of  Georgia  with 
the  salient  facts  of  the  State's  history  in  a  way  that  shall  make 
the  further  study  of  that  history  a  delight  instead  of  a  task. 
The  ground  has  been  gone  over  before  by  various  writers,  but 
the  narratives  that  are  here  retold,  and  the  characterizations 
that  are  here  attempted,  have  not  been  brought  together  here- 
tofore. They  lie  wide  apart  in  volumes  that  are  little  known 
and  out  of  print. 

The  stories  and  the  characterizations  have  been  grouped 
together  so  as  to  form  a  series  of  connecting  links  in  the  rise 
and  progress  of  Georgia ;  yet  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that 
these  links  are  themselves  connected  with  facts  and  events 
in  the  State's  development  that  are  quite  as  interesting,  and 
of  as  far-reaching  importance,  as  those  that  have  been  narrated 
here.  Some  such  suggestion  as  this,  it  is  hoped,  will  cross  the 
minds  of  young  students,  and  lead  them  to  investigate  for 
themselves  the  interesting  intervals  that  lie  between. 

It  is  unfortunately  true  that  there  is  no  history  of  Georgia  in 
which  the  dry  bones  of  facts  have  been  clothed  with  the  flesh 
and  blood  of  popular  narrative.  Colonel  Charles  C.  Jones  saw 
what  was  needed,  and  entered  upon  the  task  of  writing  -the 

3 


history  of  the  State  with  characteristic  enthusiasm.  He  had 
not  proceeded  far,  however,  when  the  iact  dawned  upon  his 
mind  that  such  a  work  as  he  contemplated  must  be  for  the 
most  part  a  labor  of  love.  He  felt  the  -influence  of  cold 
neglect  from  every  source  that  might  have  been  expected  to 
afford  him  aid  and  encouragement.  He  was  almost  compelled 
to  confine  himself  to  a  bare  recital  of  facts,  for  he  had  reason 
to  know  that,  at  the  end  of  his  task,  public  inappreciation  was 
awaiting  him. 

And  yet  it  seems  to  the  present  writer  that  every  person  in- 
terested in  the  growth  and  development  of  the  republic  should 
turn  with  eager  attention  to  a  narrative  embodying  the  events 
that  have  marked  the  progress  of  Georgia.  It  was  in  this 
State  that  some  of  the  most  surprising  and  spectacular  scenes 
of  the  Revolution  took  place.  In  one  corner  of  Georgia  those 
who  were  fighting  for  the  independence  of  the  republic  made 
their  last  desperate  stand  ;  and  if  they  had  surrendered  to  the 
odds  that  faced  them,  the  battle  of  King's  Mountain  would 
never  have  been  fought,  Greene's  southern  campaign  would 
have  been  crippled,  and  the  struggle  for  liberty  in  the  south 
would  have  ended  in  smoke. 

It  is  to  illustrate  the  larger  events  that  these  stories  have 
been  written  ;  and  while  some  of  them  may  seem  far  away 
from  this  point  of  view,  they  all  have  one  common  purpose 
and  tend  to  one  common  end. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

A  SEARCH  FOR  TREASURE    . 

OGLETHORPE  AND  HIS  GENTLE  COLONY       .  .      20 

<•  THE  EMPRESS  OF  GEORGIA  " 

THE  LIBERTY  BOYS       .  41 

A  GROUP  OF  CHARACTERS    .  •       57 

AUNT  NANCY  HART       ...  .69 

Two  SOLDIERS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION    .  .       84 

A  WAR  OF  EXTERMINATION  •      97 

A  NEGRO  PATRIOT •     I!5 

THE  YAZOO  FRAUD       .  .120 

GEORGE  MATTHEWS  AND  JOHN  CLARKE        .  -136 

AFTER  THE  REVOLUTION        ....  .     145 

THE  COTTON  GIN           ...  ...     154 

SOME  GEORGIA  INVENTIONS  ....  -163 

THE  EARLY  PROGRESS  OF  THE  STATE          .  .         .         -174 

THE  CREEKS  AND  THE  CREEK  WAR 184 

Two  FAMOUS  INDIAN  CHIEFS        ....  .     199 

5 


PAGE 

REMOVAL  OF  THE  CHEROKEES      .  .216 

THE  BEGINNING  OF  PARTIES  IN  GEORGIA    .  .     227 

A  QUEER  CASE      .        .  •     234 

GEORGIA  WIT  AND  HUMOR  .        .  •     240 

SLAVERY  AND  SECESSION       ...                 .  .251 

THE  FARMER  BOY  OF  GADDISTOWN     .  -259 

GEORGIA  IN  THE  WAR .272 

A  DARING  ADVENTURE .281 

THE  RECONSTRUCTION  PERIOD      .  .     297 

"  THE  NEW  SOUTH  " •'    .             307 


STORIES  OF   GEORGIA. 


A    SEARCH    FOR   TREASURE. 


SO  far  as  written  records  tell  us,  Hernando  de  Soto 
and  his  companions  in  arms  were  the  first  white 
men  to  enter  and  explore  the  territory  now  known  on 
the  map  as  the  State   of  Georgia.     Tradition  has  small 

7 


"8 

voice  in  the  matter,  but  such  as  it  has  tells  another 
story.  There  are  hints  that  other  white  men  ventured 
into  this  territory  before  De  Soto  and  his  men  beheld 
it.  General  Oglethorpe,  when  he  came  to  Georgia  with 
his  gentle  colony,  which  had  been  tamed  and  sobered 
by  misfortune  and  ill  luck,  was  firmly  of  the  opinion 
that  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  the  famous  soldier,  sailor,  and 
scholar,  had  been  there  before  him.  So  believing,  the 
founder  of  the  Georgian  Colony  carried  with  him  Sir 
Walter's  diary.  He  was  confirmed  in  his  opinion  by  a 
tradition,  among  the  Indians  of  the  Yamacraw  tribe, 
that  Raleigh  had  landed  where  Savannah  now  stands. 
There  are  also  traditions  in  regard  to  the  visits  of  other 
white  men  to  Georgia.  These  traditions  may  be  true, 
or  they  may  be  the  results  of  dreams,  but  it  is  certain 
that  De  Soto  and  his  picked  company  of  Spaniards 
were  the  first  to  march  through  the  territory  that  is  now 
Georgia.  The  De  Soto  expedition  was  made  up  of  the 
flower  of  Spanish  chivalry,  —  men  used  to  war,  and  fond 
of  adventure.  Some  of  them  were  soldiers,  anxious  to 
win  fame  by  feats  of  arms  in  a  new  land ;  some  were 
missionaries,  professing  an  anxiety  for  the  souls  of 
such  heathen  as  they  might  encounter,  but  even  these 
men  were  not  unfamiliar  with  the  use  of  the  sword  ; 
some  were  physicians,  as  ready  to  kill  as  to  heal ; 
some  were  botanists,  who  knew  as  much  about  the 
rapier  and  the  poniard  as  they  did  about  the  stamens, 
pistils,  and  petals  of  the  flowers  ;  and  some  were  re- 
porters, men  selected  to  write  the  history  of  the  expedi- 
tion. As  it  turned  out,  these  reporters  were  entirely 
faithful  to  their  trust.  They  told  all  that  happened 


9 

with  a  fidelity  that  leaves  nothing  to  be  desired.  The 
record  they  have  left  shows  that  the  expedition  was 
bent  on  finding  gold  and  other  treasures. 

On  the  3Oth  of  May,  1539,  De  Soto's  expedition 
landed  at  Tampa  Bay,  Fla.,  and  his  men  pitched 
their  tents  on  the  beach.  The  army  was  not  a  large 
one ;  but  it  was  made  up  of  chosen  men,  who  were  used 
to  the  dangers  of  war,  and  who,  as  stated  before,  were 
fond  of  adventure.  There  was  but  one  gray  head  in  the 
expedition  :  therefore,  though  the  army  was  a  small  one, 
it  was  the  most  enthusiastic  and  warlike  array  that  had 
ever  been  seen  in  the  New  World.  The  soldiers  wore 
rich  armor,  and  the  cavalry  rode  gayly  caparisoned 
horses.  The  army  was  accompanied  by  slaves  and 
mules  to  bear  the  burdens.  It  had  artillery  and  other 
weapons  of  war ;  handcuffs,  neck  collars,  and  chains 
for  prisoners  ;  crucibles  for  refining  gold  ;  bloodhounds, 
greyhounds,  and  a  drove  of  hogs. 

For  nearly  a  year  the  little  army  of  De  Soto  wandered 
about  in  Florida,  ransacking  the  burying  grounds  of  the 
Indians  in  search  of  treasures,  and  committing  such 
other  depredations  as  were  common  to  the  civilization 
of  that  age.  When  inquiries  were  made  for  gold,  the 
Indians  always  pointed  toward  the  north  ;  and,  follow- 
ing these  hints,  the  expedition  pursued  its  way  through 
Florida,  wandering  about  in  the  swamps  and  slashes,  but 
always  held  together  by  the  enthusiasm  of  the  men  and 
their  hopes  of  securing  rich  spoils. 

On  the  3d  of  March,  1540,  D2  Soto's  army  left 
Anhayca,  which  is  said  to  have  been  near  the  site  of 
Tallahassee,  and  marched  northward.  Before  leaving, 


10 

the  Spaniards  seized  from  the  Indians  a  large  supply  of 
maize  (now  commonly  known  as  corn),  and  appropriated 
whatever  else  struck  their  fancy.  They  had  spent  some 
time  with  the  Indians  at  this  town  of  Anhayca,  and  had 
sent  out  parties  that  committed  depredations  wherever  an 
Indian  settlement  could  be  found.  They  made  slaves  of 
many  Indians,  treating  them  with  more  severity  than  they 
treated  their  beasts  of  burden.  It  is  no  wonder,  therefore, 
that  the  Indians,  discovering  the  greed  of  the  Spaniards 
for  gold,  should  have  spread  rumors  that  large  quantities 
of  the  yellow  metal  were  to  be  found  farther  north. 

Reports  came  to  the  Spaniards  of  a  wonderful  Indian 
queen  who  reigned  at  a  place  called  Yupaha,  a  settle- 
ment as  large  as  a  city.  One  day  an  Indian  boy,  who 
had  been  brought  to  camp  with  other  prisoners,  told  the 
Spaniards  a  good  deal  about  this  great  Indian  queen. 
He  said  that  she  ruled  not  only  her  own  people,  but  all 
the  neighboring  chiefs,  and  as  far  as  the  Indian  settle- 
ments extended.  The  boy  told  the  Spaniards  that  all 
the  Indians  paid  tribute  to  this  great  queen,  and  sent 
her  fine  presents  of  clothing  and  gold.  De  Soto  and 
his  men  cared  nothing  about  fine  clothing.  They  were 
greedy  only  for  gold  and  precious  stones.  They  asked 
the  Indian  boy  many  questions,  and  he  answered  them 
all.  He  told  how  the  gold  was  taken  from  the  earth, 
and  how  it  was  melted  and  refined.  His  description 
was  so  exact  that  the  Spaniards  no  longer  had  any  doubt. 
Their  spirits  rose  mightily,  and,  after  robbing  and 
plundering  the  Indians  who  had  fed  and  sheltered  them 
during  the  winter  months,  they  broke  up  their  camp  and 
moved  northward. 


II 

Four  days  after  leaving  Tallahassee,  the  Spaniards 
came  to  a  deep  river,  which  Colonel  C.  C.  Jones,  jun.,  in 
his  "  History  of  Georgia,"  says  was  the  Ocklockonnee, 
very  close  to  the  southwest  boundary  of  Georgia.  Two 
days  later  they  came  to  an  Indian  village  from  which 
the  inhabitants  fled,  but  a  little  later  a  squad  of  five 
soldiers  was  set  upon  by  the  Indians  hiding  near  the 
encampment.  One  of  the  Spaniards  was  killed,  while 
three  others  were  badly  wounded.  De  Soto  left  this 
Indian  village  on  the  nth  of  March,  and  presently 
came  to  a  piece  of  country  which  the  Spanish  historian 
describes  as  a  desert.  But  it  was  not  a  desert  then, 
and  it  is  not  a  desert  now.  It  was  really  a  pine  barren, 
such  as  may  be  seen  to  this  day  in  what  is  called  the 
wire-grass  region  of  southern  Georgia.  In  these  bar- 
rens the  soil  is  sandy  and  the  land  level,  stretching 
away  for  miles.  De  Soto  and  his  men  saw  the  prime- 
val pines ;  but  these  have  long  since  disappeared,  and 
their  places  are  taken  by  pines  of  a  smaller  growth. 
On  the  2ist  of  March,  the  Spaniards  came  to  the 
Ocmulgee  River,  near  which  they  flhmd  an  Indian 
town  called  Toalli.' 

There  will  always  be  a  dispute  about  the  route  fol- 
lowed by  De  Soto  in  his  march.  This  dispute  is  interest- 
ing, but  not  important.  Some  say  that  the  expedition 
moved  parallel  with  the  coast  until  the  Savannah  River 
was  reached,  at  a  point  twenty-five  miles  below  Augusta ; 
but  it  is  just  as  probable  that  the  route,  after  reaching 
the  Ocmulgee,  was  along  the  banks  of  that  stream  and 
in  a  northwesterly  direction. 

At  Toalli  the  Indians  had  summer  and  winter  houses 


12 

to  live  in,  and  they  had  storehouses  for  their  maize. 
The  women  wore  blankets  or  shawls  made  of  the  fiber 
of  silk  grass,  and  the  blankets  were  dyed  vermilion 
or  black.  Thenceforward  the  Indians  whom  the  Span- 
iards met  with  were  of  a  higher  order  of  intelligence, 
and  of  a  more  industrious  turn,  than  those  left  behind 
in  Florida  and  along  the  southern  boundary  of  Georgia. 

As  De  Soto  marched  along,  he  seized  Indians  and 
made  guides  of  them,  or  made  prisoners  and  held  them 
until  he  was  furnished  with  guides  and  interpreters. 
He  also  announced  to  the  Indians  that  he  was  the 
Child  of  the  Sun,  who  had  been  sent  to  seek  out  the 
greatest  Prince  and  Princess.  This  made  a  great  im- 
pression on  the  Indians,  many  of  whom  were  sun 
worshipers. 

Many  times  during  the  march  the  Spaniards  were 
on  the  point  of  starvation,  and  the  account  of  their 
sufferings  as  set  forth  in  the  history  of  the  expedition 
is  intended  to  be  quite  pathetic.  We  need  not  pause 
to  shed  any  tears  over  these  things,  for  the  sufferings 
the  Spaniards  ftdured  were  nothing  compared  to  the 
sufferings  they  inflicted  on  the  Indians.  They  mur- 
dered and  robbed  right  and  left,  and  no  doubt  the 
Indians  regarded  them  as  demons  rather  than  Chris- 
tians. More  than  once  when  the  Spaniards  were 
wandering  aimlessly  about  in  the  wilderness,  they  were 
found  by  the  Indians  and  saved  from  starvation.  In 
turn  the  simple-minded  natives  were  treated  with  a 
harshness  that  would  be  beyond  belief  if  the  sickening 
details  were  not  piously  set  forth  by  the  Spanish  his- 
torian of  the  expedition. 


13 

About  the  28th  of  April  the  expedition  reached  the 
neighborhood  of  Cutifachiqui,  having  been  told  by  three 
Indians  whom  they  had  taken,  that  the  queen  of  that 
province  knew  of  the  approach  of  the  Spaniards,  and 
was  awaiting  them  at  her  chief  town  just  across  the 
river.  As  De  Soto  came  to  the  shore  of  the  stream, 


lour  canoes  started  from  the  opposite  side.  One  of 
them  contained  a  kinswoman  of  the  queen,  who  had 
been  selected  to  invite  the  Spaniards  to  enter  the  town. 
Shortly  afterwards  the  queen  came  forth  from  the 
town,  seated  on  a  palanquin  or  litter,  which  was  borne 
by  the  principal  men.  Coming  to  the  water  side,  the 
queen  entered  a  canoe,  over  the  stern  of  which  was 
stretched  an  awning  to  shelter  her  from  the  sun. 


'4 

Under  this  awning  she  reclined  on  cushions ;  and  thus, 
in  company  with  her  chiefs,  and  attended  by  many  of 
her  people  in  canoes,  she  crossed  the  river  to  meet 
De  Soto.  She  landed,  and  gave  the  Spaniard  a  gra- 
cious welcome.  As  an  offering  of  peace  and  good  will, 
she  took  from  her  neck  a  long  string  of  pearls,  and 
gave  the  gems  to  De  Soto.  She  also  gave  him  many 
shawls  and  finely  dressed  deerskins.  The  Spaniard 
acknowledged  the  beautiful  gifts  by  taking  from  his 
hand  a  gold  ring  set  with  a  ruby,  and  placing  it  upon 
one  of  the  queen's  fingers. 

The  old  historian  pretends  that  De  Soto  and  his  men 
were  very  much  impressed  by  the  dignity  and  courtesy 
of  the  Indian  queen.  She  was  the  first  woman  ruler 
they  had  met  in  their  wanderings.  She  was  tall,  finely 
formed,  and  had  great  beauty  of  countenance.  She 
was  both  gracious  and  graceful.  All  this  is  set  down 
in  the  most  pompous  way  by  the  Spanish  chroniclers  ; 
but  the  truth  seems  to  be  that  De  Soto  and .  his  men 
cared  nothing  for  the  courtesy  and  hospitality  of  the 
queen,  and  that  they  were  not  moved  by  her  beauty 
and  kindness.  The  Spaniards  crossed  the  river  in 
canoes  furnished  by  the  queen's  people,  and  found 
themselves  surrounded  by  the  most  hospitable  Indians 
they  had  yet  seen.  They  were  supplied  with  every- 
thing the  land  afforded,  and  rested  in  comfortable  wig- 
wams under  the  shade  of  mulberry  trees.  The  soldiers 
were  so  delighted  with  the  situation,  that  they  were 
anxious  to  form  a  settlement  there;  but  De  Soto  re- 
fused to  forget  the  only  object  of  the  expedition,  which 
was  to  search  for  gold  and  other  treasures.  His  deter- 


15 

ruination  had  the  desired  effect.  His  men  recovered 
their  energies.  While  enjoying  the  hospitality  of  the 
queen,  they  found  out  the  burial  places  of  her  people, 
and  gathered  from  the  graves,  according  to  the  state- 
ment of  the  Spanish  historian,  "  three  hundred  and  fifty 
weight  of  pearls,  and  figures  of  babies  and  birds,  made 
from  iridescent  shells." 

The  mother  of  the  queen  lived  not  far  from  the  town 
where  the  Spaniards  were  quartered,  and,  as  she  was 
said  to  be  the  owner  of  many  fine  pearls,  De  Soto  ex- 
pressed a  desire  to  see  her.  Upon  hearing  this,  the 
queen  sent  twelve  of  her  principal  men  to  beg  her 
mother  to  come  to  see  the  white  strangers  and  the 
wonderful  animals  they  had  brought  with  them;  but  the 
mother  of  the  queen  was  very  shrewd.  She  rebuked 
the  messengers,  and  sent  them  back  with  some  sharp 
words  for  her  daughter;  and  though  De  Soto  did  his 
best  to  capture  the  woman,  he  was  never  able  to  carry 
out  his  purpose. 

He  then  turned  his  attention  to  a  temple  that  stood 
on  the  side  of  a  deserted  settlement  which  had  formerly 
been  the  chief  town  of  the  queen's  people.  This 
temple,  as  described  by  the  Spanish  chronicler,  was 
more  than  one  hundred  steps  long  by  forty  broad,  the 
walls  high  in  proportion,  and  the  roof  elevated  so  as  to 
allow  the  water  to  run  off.  On  the  roof  were  various 
shells  arranged  in  artistic  order,  and  the  shells  were 
connected  by  strings  of  pearls.  These  pearls  extended 
from  the  top  of  the  roof  to  the  bottom  in  long  festoons, 
and  the  sun  shining  on  them  produced  a  very  brilliant 
effect.  At  the  door  of  the  temple  were  twelve  giant- 


i6 

like  statues  made  of  wood.  These  figures  we^re  so 
ferocious  in  their  appearance,  that  the  Spaniards  hesi- 
tated for  some  time  before  they  could  persuade  them- 
selves to  enter  the  temple.  The  statues  were  armed 
with  clubs,  maces,  copper  axes,  and  pikes  ornamented 
with  copper  at  both  ends.  In  the  middle  of  the  temple 
were  three  rows  of  chests,  placed  one  upon  another 
in  the  form  of  pyramids.  Each  pyramid  consisted  of 
five  or  six  chests,  the  largest  at  the  bottom,  and  the 
smallest  at  the  top.  These  chests,  the  Spanish  chron- 
iclers say,  were  filled  with  pearls,  the  largest  containing 
the  finest  pearls,  and  the  smallest  only  seed  pearls. 

It  is  just  as  well  to  believe  a  little  of  this  as  to  believe 
a  great  deal.  It  was  an  easy  matter  for  the  survivors 
of  the  expedition  to  exaggerate  these  things,  and  they 
probably  took  great  liberties  with  the  facts ;  but  there 
is  no  doubt  that  the  Indians  possessed  many  pearls. 
Mussels  like  those  from  which  they  took  the  gems  are 
still  to  be  found  in  the  small  streams  and  creeks  of 
Georgia,  and  an  enterprising  boy  might  even  now  be 
able  to  find  a  seed  pearl  if  he  sought  for  it  patiently. 

It  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  rich  stores  of  pearls  were 
found.  Some  were  distributed  to  the  officers  and  men ; 
but  the  bulk  of  them,  strange  to  say,  were  left  undis- 
turbed, to  await  the  return  of  the  Spaniards  another  day. 
De  Soto  was  still  intent  on  searching  for  gold,  and  he 
would  hear  of  nothing  else.  He  would  neither  settle 
among  the  queen's  people  for  a  season,  nor  return  to 
Tampa  with  the  great  store  of  pearls  discovered.  Being 
a  resolute  man  and  of  few  words,  he  had  his  way,  and 
made  preparations  to  journey  farther  north  to  the  prov- 


ince  called  Chiaha,  which  was  governed  by  a  great 
Indian  king. 

The  conduct  of  the  Spaniards  had  been  so  cruel  dur- 
ing their  stay  at  Cutifachiqui,  that  the  queen  had  come 
to  regard  them  with  fear  and  hatred,  and  she  refused  to 
supply  them  with  guides  and  burden  bearers.  De  Soto 
thereupon  placed  her  under  guard ;  and  when  he  took 
up  his  march  for  Chiaha,  the  queen  who  had  received 
him  with  so  much  grace,  dignity,  and  hospitality,  was 
compelled  to  accompany  him  on  foot,  escorted  by  her 
female  attendants.  The  old  Spanish  chronicler  is 
moved  to  remark  that  "  it  was  not  so  good  usage  as 
she  deserved  for  the  good  will  she  shewed  and  the  good 
entertainment  that  she  had  made  him."  This  was  the 
return  the  Spanish  leader  made  to  the  queen  who  had 
received  and  entertained  his  army,  —  to  seize  her,  place 
her  under  guard,  and  compel  her  to  accompany  his 
expedition  on  foot. 

One  reason  why  De  Soto  made  the  queen  his  pris- 
oner and  carried  her  with  the  expedition  was  to  use 
her  influence  in  controlling  the  Indians  along  his  line 
of  march.  The  result  was  all  that  he  could  have  ex- 
pected. In  all  the  towns  through  which  the  Spaniards 
passed,  the  queen  commanded  the  Indians  to  carry  the 
burdens  of  the  army ;  and  thus  they  went  for  a  hun- 
dred leagues,  the  Indians  obeying  the  queen  without 
question.  After  a  march  of  seven  days,  De  Soto  ar- 
rived at  the  province  of  Chelaque,  which  was  the  coun- 
try of  the  Cherokees.  Here  the  soldiers  added  to  their 
stores  of  provisions,  and  renewed  their  march  ;  and  on 
May  15  they  arrived  in  the  province  of  Xualla,  the  chief 

STO.  OF  GA.  —  2 


i8 

town  of  which  is  supposed  to  have  been  situated  in 
the  Nacoochee  valley.  Inclining  his  course  westwardly 
from  the  Nacoochee  valley,  De  Soto  set  out  for  Gua- 
xule,  which  marked  the  limit  of  the  queen's  dominion, 
and  which  has  been  identified  as  Old  Town,  in  Murray 
County.  On  this  march  the  queen  made  her  escape, 
taking  with  her  a  cane  box  filled  with  large  pearls 
of  great  value.  This  box  had  been  borne  by  one  of 
the  queen's  attendants  up  to  the  moment  when  she 
disappeared  from  the  Spanish  camp.  De  Soto  made 
every  effort  to  recapture  the  queen.  No  doubt  the 
bloodhounds,  which  formed  a  part  of  the  expedition, 
were  called  in  to  aid  in  the  search ;  but  it  was  all 
to  no  purpose.  The  queen  hid  herself  as  easily  as 
a  young  partridge  hides,  and  neither  men  nor  dogs 
could  find  her.  De  Soto  went  on  his  way,  deploring 
the  loss  of  the  valuable  pearls. 

From  Nacoochee  to  Murray  County  the  march  was 
fatiguing.  The  route  lay  over  mountains  as  well  as 
valleys.  One  of  the  foot  soldiers,  Juan  Terron  (his 
folly  has  caused  history  to  preserve  his  name),  grew 
so  weary  on  this  march,  that  he  drew  from  his  wallet 
a  linen  bag  containing  six  pounds  of  pearls.  Calling 
to  a  cavalryman,  Juan  Terron  offered  him  the  bag 
of  pearls  if  he  would  carry  them.  The  cavalryman 
refused  the  offer,  and  told  his  comrade  to  keep  them. 
But  Juan  Terron  would  not  have  it  so.  He  untied 
the  bag,  whirled  it  around  his  head,  and  scattered 
the  pearls  in  all  directions.  This  done,  he  replaced  the 
empty  bag  in  his  wallet,  and  marched  on,  leaving  his 
companions  amazed  at  his  folly.  Thirty  of  the  pearls 


19 

were  recovered  by  the  soldiers.  The  gems  were  of 
great  size,  and  perfect  in  every  particular ;  and  it  was 
estimated  that  the  six  pounds  of  pearls  would  have 
fetched  six  thousand  ducats  in  Spain  (over  twelve 
thousand  dollars).  The  folly  of  the  foot  soldier  gave 
rise  to  a  saying  in  the  army,  that  is  no  doubt  curf*ent 
in  Spain  to  this  day,  —  "  There  are  no  pearls  for  Juan 
Terron,"  which  means  that  a  fool  makes  no  profits. 

Continuing  their  march,  the  Spaniards  came  to  the 
town  of  Chiaha,  —  a  site  that  is  now  occupied  by  the 
flourishing  city  of  Rome.  De  Soto  remained  at  Chiaha 
a  month,  sending  out  exploring  expeditions  in  search 
of  the  much-coveted  gold.  They  found  traces  of  the 
precious  metal,  but  nothing  more.  On  the  1st  of  July, 
1540,  De  Soto  left  Chiaha,  going  down  the  valley  ot 
the  Coosa.  His  expedition  was  organized  by  the  spirit 
of  greed.  It  spread  desolation  wjierever  it  went,  and  it 
ended  in  disaster  and  despair.  De  Soto  himself  found 
a  grave  in  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi,  and  the  sur- 
vivors who  made  their  way  back  home  were  broken 
in  health  and  spirits. 

An  attempt  has  been  made  to  throw  a  halo  of  ro- 
mance over  this  march  of  the  Spaniards  through  the 
wilderness  of  the  New  World,  but  there  is  nothing 
romantic  or  inspiring  about  it.  It  was  simply  a  search 
for  riches,  in  which  hundreds  of  lives  were  most  cruelly 
sacrificed,  and  thousands  of  homes  destroyed. 


OGLETHORPE   AND    HIS    GENTLE    COLONY. 


JAMES  EDWARD  OGLETHORPE, 

the  founder  of  the  Colony  of  Georgia,  was  among 
the  few  really  good  and  great  men  that  history  tells  us  of. 
We  need  to  keep  a  close  eye  on  the  antics  of  history. 
She  places  the  laurels  of  fame  in  the  hands  of  butchers, 
plunderers,  and  adventurers,  and  even  assassins  share 
her  favors  ;  so  that,  if  we  are  going  to  enjoy  the  feast 
that  history  offers  us,  we  must  not  inquire  too  closely 
into  the  characters  of  the  men  whom  she  makes  heroes  of. 
We  find,  when  we  come  to  look  into  the  matter,  that  but 
few  of  those  who  figured  as  the  great  men  of  the  world 
have  been  entirely  unselfish  ;  and  unselfishness  is  the  test 
of  a  man  who  is  really  good  and  great.  Judged  by  this 
test,  General  Oglethorpe  stands  among  the  greatest  men 
known  to  history. 

He  had  served  in  the  army  with  distinction,  as  his 
father  had  before  him.  He  was  on  the  staff  of  the 
great  soldier  Eugene  of  Savoy,  and  under  that  com- 
mander made  himself  conspicuous  by  his  fidelity  and 
fearlessness.  A  story  is  told  of  him  that  is  interesting, 
if  not  characteristic.  While  serving  under  Eugene,  he 
one  day  found  himself  sitting  at  table  with  a  prince  of 
Wiirtemberg.  He  was  a  beardless  youngster,  and  the 
prince  thought  to  have  some  sport  with  him.  Taking 

20 


21 


up  a  glass  of  wine,  the  prince  gave  it  a  fillip,  so  that  a 
little  flew  in  Oglethorpe's  face.  The  young  English- 
man, looking  straight  at  the  prince,  and  smiling,  said, 
"  My  prince,  that  is  only  a  part  of  the  joke  as  the  Eng- 
lish know  it:  I  will  show  you  the  whole  of  it."  With 
that  he  threw  a  glassful  of  wine  in  the  prince's  face. 
An  old  general  who  sat  by  laughed  dryly,  and  re- 
marked, "  He  did  well,  my 
prince :  you  began  it." 

Born  in  1689,  Ogle- 
thorpe  entered  the  Eng- 
lish army  when 
twenty-one  years  of 
age.  In  1714  he  be- 
came captain  lieu- 
tenant of  the  first 
troop  of  the  queen's  life 
guards.  He  shortly  afterwards 
joined  Eugene  on  the  conti- 
nent, and  remained  with  that 
soldier  until  the  peace  of  1718. 
On  the  death  of  his  brother, 
he  succeeded  to  the  family  estate  in  England.  In  1722 
he  was  elected  to  Parliament  from  Haslemere,  county 
of  Surrey,  and  this  borough  he  represented  continuously 
for  thirty-two  years.  His  parliamentary  career  was 
marked  by  wise  prudence  and  consistency ;  and  his 
sympathies  were  warmly  enlisted  for  the  relief  of  un- 
fortunate soldiers,  and  in  securing  reform  in  the  conduct 
of  prisons.  In  this  way  Oglethorpe  became  a  philan- 
thropist, and,  without  intending  it,  attracted  the  attention 


22 

of  all  England.  Pope,  the  poet,  eulogizes  his  "  strong 
benevolence  of  soul." 

In  that  day  and  time,  men  were  imprisoned  for  debt 
in  England.  The  law  was  brutal,  and  those  who  exe- 
cuted it  were  cruel.  There  was  no  discrimination  be- 
tween fraud  and  misfortune.  The  man  who  was  unable 
to  pay  his  debts  was  judged  to  be  as  criminal  as  the 
man  who,  though  able,  refused  to  pay.  Both  were 
thrown  into  the  same  prison,  and  subjected  to  the  same 
hardships.  In  "  Little  Dorrit,"  Charles  Dickens  has 
told  something  of  those  unfortunates  who  were  thrown 
into  prison  for  debt. 

There  was  apparently  nothing  too  atrocious  to  be 
sanctioned  by  the  commercial  ambition  of  the  English. 
It  armed  creditors  with  the  power  to  impose  the  most 
cruel  burdens  upon  their  debtors,  and  it  sanctioned  the 
slave  trade.  Many  crimes  have  been  committed  to 
promote  the  commercial  supremacy  of  Great  Britain, 
and  on  that  blind  policy  was  based  the  law  which  suf- 
fered innocent  debtors  to  be  deprived  of  their  liberty 
and  thrown  into  prison. 

This  condition  of  affairs  Oglethorpe  set  himself  to 
reform ;  and  while  thus  engaged,  he  became  impressed 
with  the  idea  that  many  of  the  unfortunates,  guilty  of 
no  crime,  and  of  respectable  connections,  might  benefit 
themselves,  relieve  England  of  the  shame  of  their  im- 
prisonment, and  confirm  and  extend  the  dominion  of  the 
mother  country  in  the  New  World,  by  being  freed  from 
the  claims  of  those  to  whom  they  owed  money,  on  con- 
dition that  they  would  consent  to  become  colonists  in 
America.  To  this  class  were  to  be  added  recruits  from 


23 

those  who,  through  lack  of  work  and  of  means,  were  likely 
to  be  imprisoned  on  account  of  their  misfortunes.  Ogle- 
thorpe  was  also  of  the  opinion  that  men  of  means,  enter- 
prise, and  ambition  could  be  enlisted  in  the  cause;  and 
in  this  he  was  not  mistaken. 

He  had  no  hope  whatever  of  personal  gain  or  private 
benefit.  The  plan  that  he  had  conceived  was  entirely 
for  the  benefit  of  the  unfortunate,  based  on  broad  and 
high  ideas  of  benevolence;  and  so  thoroughly  was  this 
understood,  that  Oglethorpe  had  no  difficulty  whatever 
in  securing  the  aid  of  men  of  wealth  and  influence.  A 
charter  or  grant  from  the  government  was  applied  for, 
in  order  that  the  scheme  might  have  the  sanction  and 
authority  of  the  government.  Accordingly  a  charter 
was  granted,  and  the  men  most  prominent  in  the 
scheme  of  benevolence  were  incorporated  under  the 
name  of  "The  Trustees  for  establishing  the  Colony  of 
Georgia  in  America."  Georgia  in  America,  was,  under 
the  terms  of  the  charter,  a  pretty  large  slice  of  Amer- 
ica. It  embraced  all  that  part  of  the  continent  lying 
between  the  Savannah  and  Altamaha  rivers,  and  ex- 
tending westerly  from  the  heads  of  these  rivers  in 
direct  lines  to  the  South  Seas ;  so  that  the  original 
territory  of  Georgia  extended  from  ocean  to  ocean. 

In  aid  of  this  enterprise,  Oglethorpe  not  only  con- 
tributed largely  from  his  private  means,  and  solicited 
contributions  from  his  wealthy  friends,  but  wrote  a 
tract  in  which  he  used  arguments  that  were  practical 
as  well  as  ingenious. 

On  the  i/th  of  November,  1732,  all  arrangements 
having  been  completed,  the  "Anne"  set  sail  for  the 


24 

Colony  of  Georgia,  accompanied  by  Oglethorpe,  who 
furnished  his  own  cabin,  and  laid  in  provisions  not  only 
for  himself,  but  for  his  fellow-passengers.  On  the  I3th 
of  January,  1733,  the  "Anne"  anchored  in  Charleston 
harbor.  From  Charleston  the  vessel  sailed  to  Port 
Royal ;  and  the  colonists  were  soon  quartered  in  the 
barracks  of  Beaufort-town,  which  had  been  prepared 
for  their  reception.  Oglethorpe  left  the  colonists  at 
Beaufort,  and,  in  company  with  Colonel  William  Bull, 
proceeded  to  the  Savannah  River.  He  went  up  this 
stream  as  far  as  Yamacraw  Bluff,  which  he  selected 
as  the  site  of  the  settlement  he  was  about  to  make. 
He  marked  out  the  town,  and  named  it  Savannah. 
The  site  was  a  beautiful  one  in  Oglethorpe's  day,  and 
it  is  still  more  beautiful  now.  The  little  settlement  that 
the  founder  of  the  Colony  marked  out  has  grown  into  a 
flourishing  city,  and  art  has  added  its  advantages  to 
those  of  nature  to  make  Savannah  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  cities  in  the  United  States. 

Close  by  the  site  which  Oglethorpe  chose  for  his 
colony  was  an  Indian  village  occupied  by  the  Yama- 
craws,  —  a  small  tribe,  of  which  Tomochichi  was  chief. 
At  this  point,  too,  was  a  trading  post,  which  had  been 
established  by  a  white  man  named  John  Musgrove. 
This  man  had  married  a  half-breed  woman  whose  In- 
dian name  was  Coosaponakesee,  but  who  was  known  as 
Mary  Musgrove.  In  order  to  insure  the  friendly  recep- 
tion of  his  little  colony  and  its  future  safety,  Oglethorpe 
went  to  the  village  and  had  a  talk  with  Tomochichi. 
Mary  Musgrove  not  only  acted  as  interpreter,  but  used 
her  influence,  which  was  very  great,  in  favor  of  her 


husband's  countrymen.  This  was  fortunate,  for  the 
Indians  were  very  uneasy  when  they  learned  that  a 
colony  of  whites  was  to  be  established  near  their  vil- 
lage, and  some  of  them  even  threatened  to  use  force 
to  prevent  it;  but  Oglethorpe's  friendly  attitude,  and 
Mary  Musgrove's  influence,  at  last  persuaded  them  to 
give  their  consent.  They  made  an 
agreement  to  cede  the  necessary 
land,  and  promised  to  receive 
the  colonists  in  a  friendly 
manner.  Oglethorpe  re- 
turned to  Beaufort  when 
he  had  concluded  this 
treaty,  and  the  Sunday 
following  his  return 

*m 


was  celebrated  as 
a   day   of    thanks- 
giving.    After  re- 
ligious       services 
there   was   a    bar- 
becue, which,  his- 
tory   tells    us,    consisted    of 
four  fat  hogs,  turkeys,  fowls, 
English  beef,  a  hogshead  of  punch,  a 
hogshead  of  beer,  and  a  quantity  of  wine. 

On  the  3Oth  of  January,  1733,  the  immigrants  set 
sail  from  Beaufort,  and  on  the  afternoon  of  the  next 
day  they  arrived  at  Yamacraw  Bluff.  On  the  site 
of  the  town  that  had  already  been  marked  off,  they 
pitched  four  tents  large  enough  to  accommodate  all  the 
people.  Oglethorpe,  after  posting  his  sentinels,  slept 


26 

on  the  ground  under  the  shelter  of  the  tall  pines,  near 
the  central  watch  fire.  As  a  soldier  should,  he  slept 
soundly.  He  had  planted  the  new  Colony,  and  thus 
far  all  had  gone  well  with  him  and  with  those  whose 
interests  he  had  charge  of. 

To  bring  these  colonists  across  the  ocean,  and  place 
them  in  a  position  where  they  might  begin  life  anew, 
was  not  a  very  difficult  undertaking ;  but  to  plant  a 
colony  amongst  savages  already  suspicious  of  the 
whites,  and  to  succeed  in  obtaining  their  respect,  friend- 
ship, and  aid,  was  something  that  required  wisdom, 
courage,  prudence,  and  large  experience.  This  Ogle- 
thorpe  did  ;  and  it  is  to  his  credit,  that,  during  the 
time  he  had  charge  of  the  Colony,  he  never  in  any 
shape  or  form  took  advantage  of  the  ignorance  of  the 
Indians.  His  method  of  dealing  with  them  was  very 
simple.  He  conciliated  them  by  showing  them  that 
the  whites  could  be  just,  fair,  and  honorable  in  their 
dealings ;  and  thus,  in  the  very  beginning,  he  won  the 
friendship  of  those  whose  enmity  to  the  little  Colony 
would  have  proved  ruinous. 

Providence  favored  Oglethorpe  in  this  matter.  He 
had  to  deal  with  an  Indian  chief  full  of  years,  wisdom, 
and  experience.  This  was  Tomochichi,  who  was  at  the 
head  of  the  Yamacraws.  From  this  kindly  Indian 
the  Georgia  Colony  received  untold  benefits.  He  re- 
mained the  steadfast  friend  of  the  settlers,  and  used 
his  influence  in  their  behalf  in  every  possible  way,  and 
on  all  occasions.  Although  he  was  a  very  old  man, 
he  was  strong  and  active,  and  of  commanding  presence. 
He  possessed  remarkable  intelligence ;  and  this,  added 


27 

to  his  experience,  made  him  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able of  the  Indians  whose  names  have  been  preserved 
in  history.  There  was  something  of  a  mystery  about 
him  that  adds  to  the  interest  which  his  active  friendship 
for  the  whites  has  given  to  his  name.  He  belonged 
to  the  tribe  of  Lower  Creeks ;  but  for  some  reason  or 
other,  he,  with  a  number  of  his  tribemen,  had  been 
banished.  The  cause  of  his  exile  has  never  been 
made  known;  but  at  this  late  day  it  may  be  guessed 
that  he  became  disgusted  with  the  factional  disputes 
among  the  Creeks,  and  sought  in  another  part  of  the 
territory  the  peace  and  repose  to  which  his  years  of 
service  had  entitled  him ;  and  that  when  he  had  taken 
this  step,  the  factions  which  he  had  opposed  succeeded 
in  having  him  banished.  Some  such  theory  as  this  is 
necessary  to  account  for  the  tributes  that  were  paid 
to  his  character  and  influence  by  the  Creek  chiefs  who 
assembled  at  Savannah  to  make  a  treaty  with  Ogle- 
thorpe.  Tomochichi  was  ninety-one  years  old  when 
the  Georgia  Colony  was  founded,  and  he  had  gathered 
about  him  a  number  of  disaffected  Creeks  and  Yemas- 
sees,  known  as  the  tribe  of  the  Yamacraws.  When 
the  Creeks  came  to  Savannah  to  meet  Oglethorpe,  the 
greatest  of  their  chiefs  said  that  he  was  related  to 
Tomochichi,  who  was  a  good  man,  and  had  been  a 
great  warrior. 

Thus,  with  Oglethorpe  to  direct  it,  and  with  Tomo- 
chichi as  its  friend,  the  little  Georgia  Colony  was 
founded,  and,  as  we  shall  see,  thrived  and  flourished. 


"THE    EMPRESS    OF    GEORGIA." 

WHEN  Oglethorpe  landed  at  Yamacraw  Bluff, 
he  was  greatly  aided  in  his  efforts  to  conciliate 
the  Indians  by  the  wife  of  John  Musgrove,  a  half- 
breed  woman  whose  Indian  name  was  Coosaponakesee. 
She  was  known  by  the  colonists  as  Mary  Musgrove, 
and  her  friendship  for  the  whites  was  timely  and  fortu- 
nate. She  was  Oglethorpe's  interpreter  in  his  first 
interview  with  Tomochichi.  She  was  very  friendly 
and  accommodating,  giving  aid  to  Oglethorpe  and  his 
colony  in  every  possible  way.  Finding  that  she  had 
great  influence,  and  could  be  made  very  useful  to  the 
colonists,  Oglethorpe  employed  her  as  interpreter,  and 
paid  her  yearly  one  hundred  pounds  sterling,  which  in 
that  day  was  equal  to  a  great  deal  more  than  five  hun- 
dred dollars;  but  Mary  Musgrove  earned  all  that  was 
paid  her,  and  more.  She  used  all  her  influence  in  be- 
half of  the  whites.  She  aided  in  concluding  treaties, 
and  also  in  securing  warriors  from  the  Creek  nation  in 
the  war  that  occurred  between  the  colonists  and  the 
Spaniards  who  occupied  Florida. 

General  Oglethorpe  had  a  sincere  friendship  for 
Mary  Musgrove,  and  his  influence  over  her  was  such 
that  she  never  refused  a  request  he  made.  If  Ogle- 
thorpe had  remained  in  Georgia,  it  is  probable  'that  the 

2.S 


29 

curious  episode  in  which  Mary  took  a  leading  part 
would  never  have  occurred. 

Oglethorpe  left  Georgia  on  the  23d  of  July,  1743, 
and  never  returned.  John  Musgrove  died  shortly  after- 
wards, and  Mary  married  a  man  named  Matthews,  who 
also  died.  She  then  married  a  man  named  Thomas 
Bosomworth,  who  had  been  chaplain  to  Oglethorpe's 
regiment.  In  1743,  before  Oglethorpe's  departure, 
Bosomworth  had  been  commissioned  to  perform  all  reli- 
gious and  ecclesiastical  affairs  in  Georgia.  Previous  to 
that  he  had  accepted  a  grant  of  lands,  and  had  taken 
up  his  abode  in  the  Colony.  He  appears  to  have  been 
a  pompous  and  an  ambitious  person,  with  just  enough 
learning  to  make  him  dangerous. 

Before  Mary  Musgrove  married  Bosomworth  she  had 
never  ceased  to  labor  for  the  good  of  the  -Colony.  No 
sacrifice  was  too  great  for  her  to  make  in  behalf  of  her 
white  friends.  It  is  true,  she  had  not  been  fully  paid 
for  her  services ;  but  she  had  faith  in  the  good  inten- 
tions of  the  government,  and  was  content.  In  1744,  a 
year  after  Oglethorpe's  departure  from  the  Colony, 
Mary  married  Bosomworth,  and  after  that  her  conduct 
was  such  as  to  keep  the  whites  in  constant  fear  of 
massacre  and  extermination. 

In  1745,  Thomas  Bosomworth  went  to  England  and 
informed  the  trustees  of  the  Georgia  Company  that  he 
intended  to  give  up  his  residence  in  the  Georgia  Colony. 
The  next  year  he  returned  to  Georgia,  and  violated  the 
regulations  of  the  trustees  by  introducing  six  negro 
slaves  on  the  plantation  of  his  wife  near  the  Altamaha 
River.  This  action  was  at  once  resented ;  and  Presi- 


30 

dent  Stephens,  who  had  succeeded  Oglethorpe  in  the 
management  of  the  Colony's  affairs,  was  ordered  to 
have  the  negro  slaves  removed  from  the  territory  of 
Georgia.  This  was  done,  and  from  that  time  forth 
Bosomworth  and  his  wife  began  to  plot  against  the 
peace  and  good  order  of  the  Georgia  Colony.  He  used 
the  influence  of  his  wife  to  conciliate  the  Indians,  and 
secure  their  sympathy  and  support.  While  this  was 
going  on,  he  was  busy  in  preparing  a  claim  against  the 
government  of  the  Colony  for  the  services  rendered  and 
losses  sustained  by  his  wife,  which  he  valued  at  five 
hundred  pounds  sterling.  In  her  name  he  also  claimed 
possession  of  the  islands  of  Ossabaw,  St.  Catharine, 
and  Sapelo,  and  of  a  tract  of  land  near  Savannah 
which  in  former  treaties  had  been  reserved  to  the 
Indians. 

Bosomworth  was  shrewd  enough  not  to  act  alone. 
In  some  mysterious  way,  not  clearly  told  in  history,  he 
secured  the  sympathy  and  support  of  Major  William 
Horton,  commander  of  Oglethorpe's  regiment  stationed 
at  Frederica,  and  other  officers.  Colonel  Heron,  who 
succeeded  Major  Horton  as  commander  of  the  regi- 
ment in  1 747,  was  likewise  gained  over  to  the  cause  of 
the  Bosomworths.  By  the  connivance  of  this  officer,  a 
body  of  Indians,  with  Malatche  at  their  head,  marched 
to  Frederica  for  a  conference.  At  this  conference 
Malatche  made  a  speech  in  which  he  told  of  the  ser- 
vices which  his  sister  Mary  had  rendered  the  colonists, 
and  requested  that  a  messenger  be  sent  to  England  to 
tell  the  King  that  he,  Malatche,  was  emperor  of  all 
the  Creeks.  He  declared,  also,  that  Mary,  his  sister, 


was  confided  in  by  the  whole  Creek  nation,  and  that  the 
nation  had  decided  to  abide  by  her  will  and  desire. 

Bosomworth  saw  the  necessity  of  pushing  the  matter 
forward,  and  so  he  suggested  to  Malatche  the  impor- 
tance of  having  himself  crowned  as  emperor  by  those 
who  were  with  him.  Accordingly  a  paper  was  drawn 
up  giving  to  Malatche  full  authority  as  emperor. 
This  done,  Bosomworth  was  quick  to  procure  from 
the  Creek  emperor  a  deed  of  conveyance  to  Thomas 
and  Mary  Bosomworth  of  the  islands  of  Ossabaw, 
Sapelo,  and  St.  Catharine. 

Matters  went  on  peaceably  for  a  while;  but  Bosom- 
worth  was  active  and  energetic,  and  his  wife  appears 
to  have  been  entirely  under  his  control.  He  bought 
on  credit  a  great  number  of  cattle  from  planters  in 
South  Carolina,  and  these  he  placed  on  the  islands 
that  had  been  given  him  by  Malatche.  When  his 
debts  fell  due,  he  was  unable  to  pay  them.  Rather 
than  surrender  the  property  for  which  -he  was  unable 
to  pay,  he  suggested  to  his  wife  that  she  take  the  title 
of  an  independent  empress.  It  is  doubtful  if  she  knew 
what  an  empress  was ;  but  she  had  an  idea,  that,  if  she 
claimed  to  be  one,  she  would  be  able  to  buy  some  red 
calico  at  the  nearest  store,  as  well  as  an  extra  bottle  of 
rum.  So  she  fell  eagerly  into  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bosom- 
worth's  plans.  She  sent  word  to  the  Creeks  that  she 
had  suddenly  become  a  genuine  empress,  and  called  a 
meeting  of  the  big  men  of  the  nation.  The  big  men 
assembled ;  and  Mary  made  a  speech,  in  which  she 
insisted  that  she  was  the  Empress  of  Georgia.  She 
must  have  been  a  pretty  good  talker ;  for  the  Indians 


32 

became  very  much  excited,  and  pledged  themselves  to 
stand  by  her  to  the  last  drop  of  their  blood. 

Having  thus  obtained  the  support  of  the  Indians, 
Mary  set  out  for  Savannah,  accompanied  by  a  large 
body  of  them.  She  sent  before  her  a  messenger  to 


inform  the  president  of  the  Province  that  she  had  be- 
come empress  over  the  whole  territory  belonging  to  the 
Upper  and  Lower  Creeks ;  that  she  was  on  her  way  to 
demand  the  instant  surrender  of  all  the  lands  that  had 


33 

belonged  to  both  nations ;  and  that,  if  there  should  be 
any  serious  opposition  to  her  demands,  the  settlement 
would  be  attacked  and  destroyed. 

It  was  a  dark  hour  for  the  colonists,  who  were  vastly 
outnumbered  by  the  Indians.  The  president  and  coun- 
cil were  disturbed  by  the  bold  threats  made  by  Mary 
Bosomworth.  Their  first  plan  was  to  meet  the  Indians 
peaceably,  and,  by  gentle  measures,  find  an  opportu- 
nity to  seize  Mary  Bosomworth  and  ship  her  to  Eng- 
land. In  the  town  of  Savannah  there  were  only  one 
hundred  and  seventy  men  able  to  bear  arms.  The 
president  of  the  Province  sent  a  messenger  to  Mary, 
while  she  and  her  followers  were  still  several  miles 
distant,  warning  her  to  give  up  her  wild  scheme. 
Mary  sent  back  a  message  expressing  her  contempt 
for  the  Colony  and  its  officials.  Thereupon  the  presi- 
dent of  the  Province  determined  to  put  the  best  possible 
face  on  the  matter,  and  receive  Mary  and  her  savage 
followers  boldly.  Accordingly  the  militia  was  ordered 
under  arms;  and  as  the  Indians  entered  the  town,  they 
were  stopped  by  Colonel  Noble  Jones,  who,  at  the  head 
of  a  company  of  horse,  demanded  to  know  whether 
they  came  with  friendly  or  hostile  intentions.  He  re- 
ceived no  satisfactory  answer  to  his  demand,  where- 
upon he  informed  the  Indians  that  they  must  ground 
their  arms,  as  he  had  orders  not  to  permit  an  armed 
man  among  them  to  set  foot  within  the  town.  The 
Indians  submitted  to  the  unexpected  demand,  but  with 
great  reluctance. 

Having  grounded  their  arms,  the  Indians  were  al- 
lowed to  enter  the  town.  They  marched  in  regular 

STO.  OF  GA.  —  3 


34 

order,  headed  by  Thomas  Bosomworth,  who,  decked 
out  in  full  canonical  robes,  with  Mary  by  his  side,  was 
followed  by  the  various  chiefs  according  to  their  rank. 
The  army  of  Indians  made  a  formidable  appearance 
as  they  marched  into  the  town,  and  the  inhabitants 
were  terror-stricken  at  the  sight.  They  marched  to 
the  parade  ground,  where  they  found  the  militia  drawn 
up  to  receive  them.  Here  they  were  saluted  with 
fifteen  guns,  and  then  conducted  to  the  president's 
house.  When  the  Indians  were  assembled  there, 
Thomas  and  Mary  Bosomworth  were  ordered  to  with- 
draw. Then  the  president  and  council  asked  the 
Indian  chiefs  in  a  friendly  manner  why  they  visited 
the  town  in  so  large  a  body,  not  having  been  sent  for 
by  any  person  in  lawful  authority.  The  Indians  re- 
plied that  Mary,  their  empress,  was  to  speak  for  them, 
and  that  they  would  abide  by  what  she  said.  They 
had  heard  that  she  was  to  be  made  a  prisoner  and  sent 
across  the  great  waters,  and  they  wanted  to  know  why 
they  were  to  lose  their  queen.  They  said  they  intended 
no  harm  to  the  whites,  and  begged  that  their  arms 
might  be  restored  to  them.  Then,  after  talking  with 
Bosomworth  and  his  wife,  they  would  return  and  settle 
all  public  affairs.  Their  arms  were  restored  to  them, 
but  orders  were  given  that  on  no  account  should  any 
ammunition  be  issued  until  the  true  purpose  of  their 
visit  was  made  known. 

The  Indians  then  had  a  conference  with  Mary  Bosom- 
worth,  and  on  the  following  day  began  to  conduct 
themselves  riotously,  running  up  and  down  the  streets 
like  madmen.  As  all  the  men  were  obliged  to  perform 


35 

guard  duty,  the  women  were  compelled  to  remain  alone 
in  their  houses.  They  were  in  a  constant  state  of  terror 
and  alarm,  expecting  every  moment  to  be  set  upon  and 
killed  by  the  unruly  savages.  While  the  confusion  was 
at  its  worst,  a  rumor  was  circulated  that  the  Indians 
had  cut  off  the  head  of  the  president  of  the  council. 
The  report  was  false ;  but  the  colonists  were  in  such 
a  state  of  excitement,  that  they  could  scarcely  be  re- 
strained from  firing  on  the  Indians.  The  situation  was 
very  critical.  Great  prudence,  was  necessary  in  order 
to  prevent  bloodshed,  and  save  the  town  from  destruc- 
tion. 

At  this  crisis  orders  were  given  to  the  militia  to  lay 
hold  of  Thomas  Bosomworth,  and  place  him  in  close 
confinement.  When  this  order  was  carried  out,  Mary 
became  frantic,  and  made  threats  of  vengeance  against 
the  whole  Colony.  She  cursed  General  Oglethorpe, 
declared  that  his  treaties  were  fraudulent,  and  ordered 
the  colonists  to  depart  from  her  territory.  She  raved 
furiously,  and  claimed  control  over  the  entire  earth. 
But  while  engaged  in  cutting  up  these  extraordinary 
capers,  she  kept  an  eye  on  the  leading  men  among  the 
Indians,  whom  she  knew  could  be  easily  bribed. 

The  president  of  the  Province,  finding  that  nothing 
could  be  done  with  the  Indians  while  they  remained 
under  the  influence  of  their  so-called  empress,  caused 
Mary  to  be  privately  arrested,  and  placed  her  under 
guard  with  her  husband.  When  this  was  done,  quiet 
was  at  once  restored.  The  Indians  ceased  to  be  bois- 
terous. When  the  time  seemed  to  be  ripe,  the  presi- 
dent of  the  Province  employed  men  acquainted  with 


36 

the  Creek  language  to  entertain  the  chiefs  and  their 
warriors  in  the  friendliest  way.  A  feast  was  prepared ; 
and  in  the  midst  of  it  the  chiefs  were  told  that  Bosom- 
worth  had  become  involved  in  debt,  and  was  anxious  to 
secure  not  only  all  the  lands  of  the  Creeks,  but  also  a 
large  share  of  the  bounty  paid  to  them  by  the  King  of 
England,  so  that  he  might  be  able  to  pay  his  creditors 
in  Carolina.  He  was  also  told  that  the  King's  presents 
were  intended  only  for  the  Indians ;  that  the  lands  near 
the  town  were  reserved  for  them  for  their  encamp- 
ments ;  that  the  sea  islands  were  reserved  for  them  to 
hunt  upon  when  they  should  come  to  bathe  in  the  salt 
waters  ;  and  that  neither  Mary  nor  her  husband  had 
any  right  to  these  lands,  which  were  the  common  prop- 
erty of  the  Creek  nations. 

For  the  moment  this  policy  was  successful.  Even 
Malatche,  Mary's  brother,  seemed  to  be  satisfied ;  and 
many  of  the  chiefs  declared  that  they  were  convinced 
that  Bosomworth  had  deceived  them,  and  that  they 
would  trust  him  no  more.  But  Malatche,  at  his  own 
request,  had  another  talk  with  Thomas  and  Mary 
Bosomworth,  and  was  again  won  over  to  support  their 
wild  pretensions ;  so  that,  when  the  Indians  were 
gathered  together  to  receive  their  shares  of  the  royal 
bounty,  Malatche  stood  up  in  the  midst  of  them,  and 
delivered  a  most  violent  speech  in  favor  of  the  claims  of 
Mary  as  the  Empress  of  Georgia.  He  declared  that 
she  had  three  thousand  warriors  at  her  command,  and 
that  every  man  of  them  would  take  up  arms  in  her 
defense.  At  the  conclusion  of  his  speech,  Malatche 
drew  forth  a  paper  and  presented  it  to  the  president 


37 

of  the  council.  This  paper  was  merely  the  sum  and 
substance  of  Malatche's  speech ;  and  it  was  so  clearly 
the  production  of  Bosomworth,  that  the  effect  was  far 
different  from  what  the  Indians  had  expected.  The 
astonishment  of  the  president  and  council  was  so 
apparent,  that  Malatche  begged  to  have  the  paper 
again,  so  that  he  might  deliver  it  to  the  person  from 
whom  he  had  received  it. 

It  was  important  that  another  conference  should  be 
had  with  the  Indians.  Accordingly  they  were  called 
together  again;  and  the  president  of  the  Province 
made  an  address,  recalling  to  their  minds  the  fact 
that  when  General  Oglethorpe  and  his  colony  landed 
in  Georgia,  they  found  Mary,  then  the  wife  of  John 
Musgrove,  living  in  a  hut  at  Yamacraw ;  that  at 
that  time  she  was  comparatively  poor  and  friendless, 
being  neglected  and  despised  by  the  Creeks,  and  go- 
ing about  in  rags ;  that  General  Oglethorpe,  finding 
that  she  could  speak  both  the  English  and  the  Creek 
tongues,  employed  her  as  an  interpreter,  gave  her  rich 
clothes,  and  made  her  a  woman  of  some  consequence ; 
that  she  was  respected  by  the  colonists  until  she  mar- 
ried Thomas  Bosomworth,  but  from  that  time  forth 
they  no  longer  had  any  confidence  in  her;  that  she 
had  no  lands  of  her  own ;  and  that  General  Ogle- 
thorpe had  no  treaty  with  her,  but  dealt  with  the  old 
and  wise  leaders  of  the  Creeks,  who  voluntarily  surren- 
dered their  waste  lands  to  the  whites.  The  president 
then  went  on  to  show  that  Mary's  claims  had  been 
invented  by  Thomas  Bosomworth  as  an  easy  means 
of  paying  a  debt  of  four  hundred  pounds  which  he 


38 

owed  in  South  Carolina  for  cattle,  and  that  his  quar- 
rel with  the  colonists  was  due  to  the  fact  that  they 
had  refused  to  give  him  a  third  part  of  the  royal 
bounty  which  belonged  by  right  to  the  Indians. 

At  this  point  the  Creek  chiefs  begged  the  president 
to  stop.  They  had  heard  enough  to  convince  them, 
they  said,  and  now  they  wanted  to  smoke  the  pipe 
of  peace.  Apparently  this  was  a  happy  ending  to  a 
very  serious  dispute.  But  at  the  very  moment  when 
everything  was  serene,  Mary  Bosomworth  made  her 
appearance  amongst  those  who  were  patching  up  their 
differences.  She  had  escaped  from  her  guards,  and, 
having  secured  a  supply  of  rum,  now  made  her  ap- 
pearance drunk  and  furious.  She  filled  the  air  with 
threats.  The  president  told  her,  that,  unless  she  ceased 
her  efforts  to  poison  the  minds  of  the  Indians,  he  would 
again  order  her  into  close  confinement.  Thereupon 
Mary  turned  to  Malatche  and  told  him  what  the 
president  had  said.  In  a  rage,  Malatche  seized  his 
arms,  and,  calling  to  the  rest  of  the  Indians  to  do 
the  same,  dared  the  whites  to  touch  the  empress.  The 
uproar  was  great.  Every  Indian  had  his  tomahawk  in 
his  hand,  and  the  council  expected  nothing  less  than 
instant  death. 

At  this  moment,  Captain  Noble  Jones,  who  com- 
manded the  guard,  ordered  the  Indians  to  deliver  up 
their  arms.  The  savages  were  overawed  by  the  cool- 
ness and  courage  of  this  intrepid  officer.  They  yielded 
up  their  arms,  and  Mary  was  shut  in  a  private  room, 
and  a  guard  set  over  her.  There  she  was  securely 
kept,  and  while  the  Indians  remained  she  had  no  fur- 


39 

ther  communication  with  them.  Her  husband  was  then 
sent  for,  and  the  president  and  council  tried  to  reason 
with  him ;  but  he  remained  obstinate,  declaring  that  he 
would  stand  up  for  his  wife's  rights  to  the  last.  Find- 
ing Bosomworth  unreasonable,  the  council  caused  him 
to  be  seized  and  confined.  This  done,  the  authorities 
then  set  about  persuading  the  Indians  to  leave  the 
town  peaceably  and  return  to  their  own  settlements. 
This  the  savages  did  after  a  while,  leaving  Savannah 
in  small  parties  until  all  were  gone. 

Finding  himself  no  longer  supported  by  the  Indians, 
Thomas  Bosomworth  at  last  repented  of  his  folly.  He 
wrote  to  the  president  and  council,  apologizing  for  his 
wanton  conduct.  He  acknowledged  the  title  of  his 
wife  to  be  groundless,  and  relinquished  all  claim  to 
the  lands  of  the  Province.  Though  his  offense  had 
been  serious,  the  colonists  pardoned  him,  and  thus 
ended  the  career  of  Coosaponakesee  as  Empress  of 
Georgia. 

And  yet,  after  all,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Bosomworth  had 
his  way.  Mary  seems  to  have  lived  long ;  and  her 
husband  pressed  her  claims  in  London,  so  that,  when 
Henry  Ellis  was  made  governor  of  the  Province,  he 
was  authorized,  in  1 759,  to  sell  the  islands  of  Ossabaw 
and  Sapelo,  as  well  as  other  Indian  lands  near  Savan- 
nah, and  out  of  the  moneys  received  to  settle  the  de- 
mands of  the  Bosomworths,  and  to  give  them  a  title 
to  the  Island  of  St.  Catharine,  which  they  had  settled 
and  improved.  Mary  Bosomworth  was  given  four  hun- 
dred and  fifty  pounds  for  goods  she  had  expended  in 
the  King's  service,  and  it  was  provided  also  that  she 


40 

should  be  allowed  sixteen  hundred  and  fifty  pounds 
for  her  services  as  agent.  In  addition,  she  was  given 
two  thousand  pounds,  the  sum  for  which  Ossabaw  and 
Sapelo  sold  at  auction.  A  grant  of  St.  Catharine 
Island  was  also  made  to  Mary  Bosomworth ;  so  that 
it  may  be  considered  that  she  was  richly  rewarded  for 
the  many  good  turns  she  did  the  colonists  in  her  bet- 
ter days,  before  her  mind  had  been  poisoned  by  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Bosomworth. 


THE    LIBERTY    BOYS 


IN  1765,  what  is 
known  as  the 
Stamp  Act  was  passed 
by  the  Parliament  of 
Great  Britain,  in  spite 

of  all  the  protests  made  by  the  agents  of  the  Colonies. 
The  people  of  the  Colonies  felt  that  taxation  without 
representation  was  an  exercise  of  power  not  to  be 
tolerated. 

The  Stamp  Act  itself  was  a  very  small  matter;  but 
many  of  the  American  Colonies  had  been  setting  up 
claims  of  independence  in  various  matters.  As  Benja- 
min Franklin  said,  the  British  nation  was  provoked  by 
these  claims  of  independence,  and  all  parties  proposed 
by  this  piece  of  legislation  to  settle  the  question  once  for 

41 


42 

all.  While  the  agents  of  the  Colonies,  and  among  them 
Franklin,  protested  against  the  Stamp  Act,  none  of 
them  supposed  that  it  would  be  met  by  armed  resist- 
ance ;  and  yet  the  terms  of  the  act  were  insolent  and 
sweeping.  It  was  provided  that  if  the  stamps  were  not 
used,  "  marriages  would  be  null  and  void,  notes  of  hand 
valueless,  ships  at  sea  prizes  to  the  first  captors,  suits  at 
law  impossible,  transfers  of  real  estate  invalid,  inherit- 
ances irreclaimable."  In  spite  of  these  sweeping  terms, 
Benjamin  Franklin  did  not  doubt  that  the  act  would 
be  carried  into  effect,  and  other  patriotic  Americans 
thought  that  the  colonists  should  submit.  Even  James 
Otis  of  Boston,  who  was  afterwards  among  the  first  to 
advocate  the  calling  of  an  American  congress  to  delib- 
erate upon  the  propriety  of  the  acts  of  Great  Britain, 
was  of  this  opinion. 

The  Georgia  authorities  regarded  the  stamp  duty  as 
just  as  any  that  could  be  generally  imposed  on  the 
Colonies,  though  the  manner  of  imposing  it  greatly 
inspired  alarm.  But  while  the  other  Colonies  were 
hesitating,  a  voice  was  heard  in  Virginia.  Patrick 
Henry,  speaking  for  the  Virginians,  made  an  eloquent 
protest  against  the  law,  and  his  boldness  kindled  into 
flames  the  spirit  of  opposition  that  had  been  smolder- 
ing in  all  the  Colonies.  The  Sons  of  Liberty  were 
organized  North  and  South.  In  Georgia  they  were 
known  as  "Liberty  Boys."  "Liberty,  property,  and  no 
stamps !  "  was  the  cry,  and  it  was  a  cry  that  stirred  the 
country  from  one  end  to  the  other. 

The  congress  suggested  by  James  Otis  of  Boston 
assembled,  on  Monday,  the  /th  of  October,  1765. 


43 

Georgia  had  no  delegates  in  the  congress,  but  was 
represented  by  a  messenger  who  was  sent  to  obtain  a 
copy  of  the  proceedings.  Such  representation  was  not 
because  the  Colony  of  Georgia  failed  to  sympathize 
with  the  purpose  for  which  the  congress  was  called, 
but  was  entirely  due  to  the  influence  and  popularity 
of  Governor  Wright,  the  royal  governor,  who  was  not 
only  a  good  man  personally,  but  wise,  prudent,  and  far- 
seeing.  Owing  to  his  exertions,  Georgia  was  not  repre- 
sented in  the  person  of  delegates.  The  speaker  of  the 
Georgia  House  of  Assembly  had  indeed  called  a  conven- 
tion of  the  members  for  the  purpose  of  selecting  dele- 
gates to  the  Colonial  Congress  called  to  meet  in  New 
York,  and  sixteen  members  had  responded  to  the  call ; 
but  such  was  the  influence  of  Governor  Wright,  that 
these  members  of  the  assembly  were  prevailed  upon 
not  to  send  delegates  to  the  congress.  But  they  could 
not  be  prevented  from  preparing  and  sending  a  re- 
sponse to  the  Massachusetts  invitation.  They  had 
resolved,  they  said,  to  support  heartily  every  measure 
that  might  be  suggested  for  the  support  of  the  common 
rights  of  the  Colonies. 

We  learn  from  the  letters  of  Governor  Wright,  writ- 
ten to  the  Earl  of  Halifax,  that  it  was  as  much  as  he 
could  do  (and  he  was  a  very  active  as  well  as  a  very 
wise  governor)  to  prevail  on  the  people  to  maintain 
at  least  the  outward  show  of  loyalty  to  the  King.  And 
he  was  not  successful  even  in  this,  for  he  informs 
another  correspondent  (Mr.  Secretary  Conway)  on  the 
3  ist  of  January,  1766,  that  the  same  spirit  of  "  sedi- 
tion, or  rather  rebellion,  which  first  appeared  at  Bos- 


44 

ton,"  had  reached  Georgia,  and  that  he  had  been  con- 
stantly engaged  for  the  space  of  three  months  in  trying 
to  convince  the  people  that  they  ought  to  submit  to  the 
King's  authority  until  they  could  point  out  their  griev- 
ances and  apply  for  redress  in  a  constitutional  way. 
Governor  Wright  also  states  to  the  same  correspondent 
that  he  has  had  much  trouble  in  preserving  from  de- 
struction at  the  hands  of  the  people  the  stamp  papers 
that  had  been  forwarded  for  the  collection  of  the  tax. 
He  received  "  incendiary  "  letters  ;  he  had  to  issue  proc- 
lamations against  riots  and  "tumultuous  and  unlawful 
assemblies ; "  and  he  had  also  to  take  measures  against 
the  Liberty  Boys,  who  began  to  have  private  meetings, 
and  who  had  formed  themselves  into  a  society  to  oppose 
and  prevent  the  distribution  of  the  stamp  papers. 

In  short,  the  good  governor  was  kept  in  a  constant 
state  of  alarm  lest  the  Liberty  Boys  should  seize  some 
advantage  and  cause  his  Majesty  the  King  of  England 
to  have  a  moment  of  grief.  The  Liberty  Boys  were  so 
active,  and  made  so  many  threatening  demonstrations, 
that  Governor  Wright  was  driven  to  what  he  describes 
as  extreme  measures.  He  was  compelled  to  send  the 
obnoxious  stamp  papers  to  a  place  of  safety  to  prevent 
the  people  from  destroying  them  ;  and  when  he  had  the 
papers  securely  hidden,  he  was  compelled  to  place  men 
on  duty  day  and  night  to  protect  the  precious  stamps. 
He  was  obliged  to  send  a  posse  of  men  to  protect  the 
stamp  distributer  by  hiding  him,  and  was  then  moved  to 
send  him  into  the  country  for  a  season,  in  order  to  avoid 
the  resentment  of  the  people ;  and  then,  after  all  his 
trouble,  the  good  governor  found  that  the  people  had 


45 

determined  not  to  apply  for  any  papers,  stamped  or  un- 
stamped, until  the  King  had  acted  on  the  petitions  sent 
from  the  Colonies.  No  wonder  thaj;  he  was  moved  to 
call  it  "a  wretched  situation."  It  was  indeed  a  wretched 
situation  for  one  who  had  no  higher  ideas  of  duty  than 
to  continue  to  serve  the  King  and  oppose  the  interests 
of  the  people. 

There  was  something  more  of  an  uproar  in  South 
Carolina  than  in  Georgia  ;  but  the  truth  of  history  ap- 
pears to  be  that  the  resistance  offered  to  the  Stamp  Act 
in  Georgia  was  much  more  serious  than  that  displayed 
in  Carolina.  Although  Governor  Wright  used  all  his 
influence  to  support  the  act,  the  people  exercised  so 
much  vigilance  in  watching  the  stamp  papers  and  the 
officer  sent  to  issue  them,  that  none  of  the  papers  found 
their  way  into  use. 

The  Colonies  were  bordering  on  a  state  of  revolution, 
when,  through  the  influence  of  the  Earl  of  Chatham, 
the  Stamp  Act  was  repealed.  There  was  great  rejoi- 
cing among  the  people,  and  a  general  manifestation  of 
a  renewal  of  loyalty  to  the  mother  country.  But  the 
seeds  of  dissension  had  been  sown.  The  Stamp  Act, 
unnecessary  and  uncalled  for,  had  given  the  people 
cause  to  ponder  over  their  real  relations  to  the  Crown  ; 
and  out  of  the  discussion  that  had  taken  place  arose  a 
spirit  of  independence  that  grew  and  thrived  and  spread 
day  by  day. 

In  short,  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act  gave  the  peo- 
ple of  the  Colonies  only  momentary  satisfaction.  Their 
success  in  securing  its  repeal  gave  them  a  new  taste  for 
liberty  of  action,  and  a  new  sense  of  their  importance 


46 

as  individuals.  But  King  George  III.  was  never  satis- 
fied with  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act  of  1765.  He 
declared  that  it  had  wounded  the  Majesty  of  England. 
It  fretted  him,  and  the  irritation  that  he  felt  extended 
like  a  contagion  to  his  cabinet.  When  the  Earl  of 
Chatham  died,  there  was  no  statesman  to  take  his  place. 
The  mantle  of  his  office  fell  on  Charles  Townshend, 
who  was  more  anxious  to  please  the  King  than  to  secure 
good  government  to  the  people  of  the  Colonies.  He 
was  anxious  for  the  British  Government  to  assert  with 
vigor  its  right  to  govern  the  Colonies  as  it  saw  fit. 

Meanwhile  the  spirit  of  independence  in  the  Colonies 
continued  to  assert  itself  more  openly  day  by  day,  and 
the  determination  grew  among  them  not  to  submit  to 
taxation  without  representation  in  Parliament.  The 
organization  of  Sons  of  Liberty  and  Liberty  Boys  grew 
and  spread  both  North  and  South.  One  of  the  most 
fruitful  causes  of  discontent  was  the  fact  that  Georgia 
and  the  other  Colonies  were  compelled  to  depend  upon 
the  will  of  the  British  Government  in  all  matters. 
Every  act  passed  by  a  colonial  assembly  must  receive 
the  sanction  of  the  British  Parliament  before  it  became 
a  law.  Petitions  were  disregarded.  Frequently  there 
was  a  delay  of  two  years  between  the  passage  of  an  act 
by  the  Colonial  General  Assembly  and  its  ratification. 
But  every  measure  had  to  receive  the  approval  of  the 
Crown.  While  the  affairs  of  the  country  were  in  this 
peculiar  condition,  the  people  became  more  and  more 
dissatisfied. 

It  is  now  known  that  Governor  James  Wright,  loyal 
to  the  King  as  he  proved  himself  to  be,  was  fully 


47 

sensible  of  the  injustice  to  which  the  Colonies  were 
compelled  to  submit.  On  the  I5th  of  August,  1769, 
he  addressed  a  letter  to  the  Earl  of  Hillsborough,  which 
was  not  read  until  fifteen  months  after  it  was  written. 
In  this  letter  the  governor  warned  the  British  cabinet 
that  the  Colonies  would  never  submit  to  taxation  with- 
out representation.  There  was  no  disaffection,  he  said, 
toward  the  King  or  the  royal  family,  but  simply  a 
determination  on  the  part  of  the  people  to  stand  on 
their  rights.  But  the  governor's  letter  lay  unread  for 
fifteen  months,  and  there  was  no  reply  to  the  numerous 
petitions  sent  from  the  Colonies.  At  last  the  Ameri- 
cans determined  to  appeal  to  the  pockets  instead  of  to 
the  sentiments  of  the  people  of  Great  Britain.  They 
determined  to  import  no  goods  whatever  that  could  be 
manufactured  or  produced  at  home. 

This  determination,  instead  of  causing  the  British 
people  to  conciliate  the  Americans  by  securing  the 
repeal  of  unfriendly  laws,  turned  the  popular  opinion 
against  the  Colonies ;  and  this  feeling  was  intensified 
by  the  Boston  Tea  Party.  A  bill  was  passed  by  both 
Houses  of  the  British  Parliament  to  close  the  port  of 
Boston,  and  the  discussion  of  the  measure  gave  an 
opportunity  to  some  of  the  statesmen  of  the  mother 
country  to  show  their  spite.  Another  law  was  passed, 
limiting  and  cutting  down  the  power  of  the  represen- 
tative assembly  of  Massachusetts,  and  providing  that 
town  meetings  should  not  be  held  except  on  permission 
in  writing  from  the  royal  governor.  Another  act  was 
passed,  giving  the  governor  of  the  Province  the  power 
to  send  to  Great  Britain  or  to  other  Colonies  persons 


48 


indicted  for  murder  or  charged  with  capital  crimes 
committed  in  aiding  the  government  of  Massachusetts. 
These  acts,  intended  to  humiliate  the  Colonies,  had  the 
effect  of  inflaming  them,  and  the  Liberty  Boys  grew  in 
numbers  and  determination. 

On  the  20th  of  July,  1774,  "The  Georgia  Gazette," 
published  at  Savannah,  contained  an  invitation  to  the 

people  of  the  Province  to 
meet  at  Tondee's  Tavern 
on  the  27th  of  July 
to  take  into  con- 
sideration the  un- 
just laws  that  had 
been  passed  by  the 
British  Parliament. 
The  cause  of  Mas- 
sachusetts was  the 
cause  of  all.  The 
meeting  was  held, 
and  stood  ad- 
journed to  the 
loth  of  August,  in 
order  to  give  all  the  parishes  an  opportunity  to  be 
represented  by  delegates.  Governor  Wright,  loyal 
to  the  last,  issued  a  proclamation  warning  the  people 
of  the  Province  to  avoid  attending  the  meeting  ;  but 
the  proclamation  was  disregarded,  and  a  meeting  of 
the  people  of  the  Province  was  held  at  Tondee's  Tav- 
ern on  the  loth  of  August,  1774.  Resolutions  were 
adopted,  declaring  that  his  Majesty's  subjects  in  America 
owed  the  same  allegiance,  and  were  entitled  to  the  same 


49 

rights  and  privileges,  as  their  fellow-subjects  in  Great 
Britain ;  that  the  act  lately  passed  for  blockading  the 
port  of  Boston  was  contrary  to  the  British  constitution ; 
that  the  act  for  abolishing  the  charter  of  Massachusetts 
Bay  tended  to  the  subversion  of  American  rights ;  that 
the  Parliament  of  Great  Britain  had  not,  nor  ever  had, 
the  right  to  tax  his  Majesty's  American  subjects ;  and 
that  every  demand  for  the  support  of  government 
should  be  by  requisition  made  to  the  several  houses 
of  representatives.  The  resolutions  covered  all  the 
grievances  of  the  people  of  the  Colonies. 

Meanwhile,  Governor  Wright  was  not  idle.  He  called 
a  convention  of  Royalists,  which  met,  and  signed  a 
protest  against  the  resolutions.  Copies  of  this  protest 
were  made,  and  sent  into  all  the  parishes,  by  the  gov- 
ernor's friends.  Under  pressure,  many  timid  men  who 
were  really  in  sympathy  with  the  Liberty  Boys  signed 
the  protest.  The  signatures  of  dead  men  were  used, 
and  other  frauds  practiced,  in  order  to  make  the  dem- 
onstration in  favor  of  the  King  sufficient  to  overawe 
those  who  had  pledged  themselves  to  American  inde- 
pendence. In  all  this,  Governor  Wright  was  aided  by 
the  fact  that  the  only  newspaper  in  the  Province,  "  The 
Georgia  Gazette,"  was  under  his  control.  He  was  also 
aided  by  the  geographical  situation  of  Georgia,  and  by 
his  own  personal  popularity.  He  had  made  a  good 
governor.  He  had  worked  as  hard  for  the  prosperity 
and  progress  of  the  Province  as  he  now  worked  to 
prevent  the  people  from  joining  the  movement  for 
independence. 

The  governor  was  successful  to  the  extent  that  he 

STO.  OF    GA    —  4 


50 

was  able  to  prevent  Georgia  from  sending  duly  accred- 
ited representatives  to  the  First  Continental  Congress ; 
and  this  fact  has  been  taken  by  some  writers  of  history 
to  mean  that  the  spirit  of  liberty  and  independence  was 
not  as  earnest  and  as  enthusiastic  in  Georgia  as  in  the 
other  Provinces.  Later,  when  Georgia  was  overrun  by 
British  and  Tory  influences,  and  appeared  to  be  con- 
quered, ill-natured  critics  recalled  the  fact  that  her 
people  were  slow  to  join  hands  with  those  who  advo- 
cated resistance  to  tyranny. 

When  the  South  Carolina  delegates  to  the  First  Con- 
tinental Congress  returned  to  their  homes,  bearing 
with  them  copies  of  the  Declaration  of  Colonial  Rights, 
the  Liberty  Boys  of  Georgia  renewed  their  movement 
with  great  zeal.  Copies  of  the  Declaration  were  dis- 
tributed throughout  the  Province.  The  result  was,  that 
the  Liberty  Boys  grew  steadily  stronger  in  numbers, 
and  more  defiant  in  action.  An  idea  of  the  situation  at 
this  time  may  be  gathered  from  a  letter  written  by  Gov- 
ernor Wright  to  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth  on  the  1 3th  of 
December,  1774.  He  declared  that  the  spirit  of  inde- 
pendence, or,  as  he  called  it,  the  spirit  of  enthusiasm, 
which  many  were  possessed  of  before,  "is  raised  to 
such  a  height  of  frenzy,  that  God  knows  what  the  con- 
sequences may  be,  or  what  man  or  whose  property  may 
escape  their  resentment." 

No  doubt  the  amiable  governor  misunderstood  the 
situation.  What  he  regarded  as  "  frenzy  "  was  merely 
the  eager  desire  and  the  determination  of  the  Liberty 
Boys  of  Georgia  to  redeem  themselves  in  the  eyes  of 
their  brethren  in  the  other  Colonies.  They  were  humili- 


ated  by  their  failure  to  send  representatives  to  the  Con- 
tinental Congress,  and  they  endeavored  to  redeem 
themselves  by  increased  zeal  and  enthusiasm. 

They  arranged  to  hold  a  provincial  congress  in  Sa- 
vannah on  the  1 8th  of  January,  17/5.  Governor 
Wright,  on  hearing  of  this,  determined  to  convene  the 
Provincial  General  Assembly  on  the  same  day,  hoping 
and  believing  that  this  would  prevent  a  meeting  of  the 
Provincial  Congress,  or  greatly  hamper  its  action.  But 
the  governor  was  mistaken.  The  General  Assembly 
met  in  response  to  the  call,  and  so  did  the  Provincial 
Congress.  Governor  Wright  addressed  the  members, 
declaring  to  them  the  danger  of  the  situation,  and  im- 
ploring them  to  be  prudent  and  loyal.  The  upper 
house  of  the  General  Assembly  made  a  response  agree- 
able to  the  governor's  expectations,  but  the  lower  house 
gave  to  its  address  a  tone  of  independence  that  was  not 
at  all  pleasing  to  the  King's  officer.  He  showed  his 
displeasure,  and  placed  a  serious  obstacle  in  the  way 
of  the  Liberty  Boys  by  adjourning  the  General  Assem- 
bly until  the  9th  of  the  following  May.  The  Assem- 
bly had  met  on  the  i8th  of  January,  and  was  adjourned 
on  the  loth  of  February;  so  that  the  Liberty  Boys,  who 
made  up  a  majority  of  the  lower  house,  had  no  time 
to  appoint  delegates  to  the  Philadelphia  congress  soon 
to  be  held,  nor  to  take  any  official  action  in  behalf  of 
the  independence  of  Georgia. 

Governor  Wright's  plans  were  certainly  very  shrewdly 
laid.  His  adjournment  of  the  General  Assembly  not 
only  hampered  the  Provincial  Congress  (or  convention) 
that  had  m^t  at  Savannah  simultaneously  with  the  legis- 


52 

lature,  but  threw  the  delegates  into  confusion  and  dis- 
order, and  was  the  means  of  causing  the  convention  to 
adjourn  without  taking  such  action  as  the  friends  of 
liberty  hoped  for.  All  that  it  did  was  to  elect  three 
representatives  to  the  Philadelphia  congress.  This  was 
something,  but  it  was  not  enough.  The  Liberty  Boys 
expected  the  Provincial  Convention  to  adopt  all  the 
measures  and  resolutions  suggested  by  the  Continental 
Congress.  They  therefore  felt  mortified  when  the  con- 
vention adjourned,  and  left  Georgia  still  outside  the 
continental  association. 

This  event  was  a  serious  embarrassment  to  the  other 
Colonies,  and  aroused  the  anger  of  those  friends  of  lib- 
erty who  were  unable  to  understand  the  peculiar  con- 
ditions that  surrounded  the  movement  for  independence 
in  Georgia.  The  friends  of  liberty  in  South  Carolina 
were  so  indignant,  that  they  denounced  the  Georgians 
"  as  unworthy  the  rights  of  freemen,  and  as  inimical  to 
the  liberties  of  their  country."  Throughout  the  Col- 
onies, the  partisans  of  American  independence  were 
deeply  wounded  by  the  apparent  hesitation  of  the 
Georgians,  while  the  Royalists  were  delighted. 

Though  the  Provincial  Convention  remained  in  ses- 
sion only  seven  days  before  adjourning,  the  delegates 
of  St.  John's  Parish  had  withdrawn  from  the  body. 
These  delegates  insisted  on  an  emphatic  indorsement 
of  the  acts  of  the  Continental  Congress,  and  they  re- 
tired as  soon  as  they  found  there  would  be  some  diffi- 
culty in  bringing  some  of  the  hesitating  members  to 
their  way  of  thinking.  They  retired,  and  selected  Dr. 
Lyman  Hall  to  represent  St.  John's  in  the  Philadelphia 


53 


congress.  He  took  his  seat  in  that  body,  and  although 
he  cast  no  vote,  he  made  his  voice  heard  in  the  discus- 
sions. 

In  spite  of  all  the  drawbacks  which  the  Liberty  Boys 
in  Georgia  had  experienced,  their  enthusiasm  did  not 
cool.  They  never  ceased  their 
efforts,  and  the  independence 
movement  continued 
to  grow.  The  pub-  ( 
lie  mind  became  more 
and  more  inflamed 
with  resentment 
against  the  tyranny 
of  King  George  and 
his  Parliament,  as  the 
people  heard  of 
the  progress  of 
events  in  the  more 
northern  Colonies. 
By  the  loth  of 
May  the  people  of 
Savannah  had  heard 
of  the  shedding  of  Ameri- 
can blood  by  British  troops  at  Lex- 
ington and  Concord.  As  the  news  spread  from  parish 
to  parish,  the  people  became  aroused,  and  the  response 
of  public  sentiment  was  all  that  American  patriots 
could  expect. 

The  first  response  of  the  Liberty  Boys  at  Savannah 
was  to  seize  the  ammunition  stored  in  the  magazine. 
This  event  occurred  on  the  night  of  the  nth  of  May, 


54 

and  was  planned  and  carried  out  by  the  members  of 
the  Council  of  Safety.  About  six  hundred  pounds  of 
powder  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Liberty  Boys.  Some 
was  sent  to  South  Carolina,  and  the  rest  was  hidden  in 
the  garrets  and  cellars  of  the  patriots  who  had  seized  it. 
Tradition  says  that  some  of  this  powder  was  sent  to 
Massachusetts,  where  it  was  used  by  the  patriots  who 
drove  the  British  before  them  at  the  battle  of  Bunker 
Hill. 

Other  events  occurred  that  showed  the  temper  of  the 
Liberty  Boys.  On  the  4th  of  June,  when  Governor 
Wright  came  to  fire  salutes  in  honor  of  King  George's 
birthday,  he  found  the  cannon  had  been  spiked,  dis- 
mounted, and  rolled  to  the  bottom  of  the  bluff.  On  the 
5th  of  June  the  first  liberty  pole  in  the  Colony  was  set 
up  at  Savannah.  A  young  man  named  Hopkins,  who 
spoke  contemptuously  of  the  members  of  the  Committee 
of  Public  Safety  was  seized  by  a  mob,  tarred  and 
feathered,  placed  in  an  illuminated  cart,  and  paraded  up 
and  down  the  streets  of  Savannah. 

As  the  days  went  by,  the  independence  movement  in 
Georgia  became  more  enthusiastic,  the  Liberty  Boys 
more  active.  The  first  vessel  armed  and  equipped  for 
naval  warfare  during  the  Revolution  was  fitted  up  by 
the  Liberty  Boys  of  Georgia  under  the  authority  of  the 
Provincial  Convention,  which  had  assembled  iri  Savan- 
nah on  the  4th  of  July,  1775.  This  event  is  interest- 
ing. The  Carolina  Committee  of  Safety  had  heard  that 
a  British  ship  had  sailed  for  Georgia  with  a  cargo  of 
powder  intended  for  the  Indians  and  for  the  use  of  the 
Royalists.  The  Carolinians  at  once  resolved  to  capture 


55 

the  ship  and  seize  the  cargo.  To  that  end,  two  barges, 
manned  by  forty  well-armed  men,  were  embarked  from 
Beaufort,  and  went  to  the  mouth  of  the  Savannah  River, 
where  they  encamped  on  a  point  that  commanded  a  full 
view  of  Tybee  Lighthouse.  The  Provincial  Conven- 
tion, hearing  of  this  expedition,  offered  to  assist  the  offi- 
cers in  every  way  possible.  There  was  an  armed  British 
schooner  in  the  river  at  that  time ;  and  the  Liberty 
Boys  of  Savannah  determined  to  join  forces  with  the 
Carolinians  at  Tybee,  and  effect  her  capture.  For  this 
purpose  a  schooner  was  equipped  by  the  Provincial 
Convention,  and  placed  under  command  of  Captain 
Bowen  and  Joseph  Habersham.  This  vessel  was  armed 
with  ten  carriage  guns  and  swivels,  and  carried  fifty  men. 
The  British  armed  vessel  was  not  inclined  to  enter  into 
a  contest,  but,  when  the  Georgia  schooner  appeared, 
weighed  anchor  and  sailed  away.  The  schooner  then 
took  position  beyond  the  harbor  bar,  and  waited  for 
the  ship  carrying  the  cargo  of  powder.  She  had  not 
long  to  wait.  On  the  loth  of  July,  1775,  the  powder 
ship,  commanded  by  Captain  Maitland,  made  her  ap- 
pearance. Before  entering  Tybee  Inlet,  however,  Cap- 
tain Maitland  saw  the  armed  schooner.  Suspecting 
that  he  was  about  to  fall  into  a  trap,  he  brought  his 
vessel  round,  tacked,  and  stood  out  to  sea.  But  he  had 
gone  too  far.  The  Georgia  schooner  gave  chase,  and 
soon  overtook  and  captured  the  ship.  It  was  a  fortu- 
nate capture  for  the  Colonies.  Five  thousand  pounds 
of  powder  were  sent  to  Philadelphia,  and  nine  thousand 
fell  to  the  share  of  Georgia. 

The  convention  that    commissioned    the    first  armed 


56 

vessel  of  the  Revolution  did  more  important  work 
than  this.  It  placed  the  Province  of  Georgia  in  po- 
litical union  with  her  sister  Colonies,  and  gave  her 
fellowship  with  those  struggling  Provinces.  She  was 
welcomed  into  the  United  Colonies  with  joyful  demon- 
strations by  the  Continental  Congress.  By  the  I5th  of 
April,  1776,  the  Liberty  Boys  in  Georgia  were  so  strong 
that  Governor  Wright  had  taken  refuge  on  one  of  the 
King's  vessels  at  Tybee ;  and  on  that  date  the  patriots 
took  full  charge  of  the  government  of  the  Province, 
Archibald  Bulloch  was  the  first  republican  president 
of  Georgia. 

This  is  how  the  Liberty  Boys  took  the  Province  of 
Georgia  from  his  Majesty  the  King,  and  made  a  free 
and  independent  government.  Their  struggle  did  not 
end  here,  but  the  details  of  that  struggle  must  be 
left  to  history  to  relate. 


A   GROUP   OF   CHARACTERS. 

THE  Revolutionary  War  in  Georgia  developed  some 
very  romantic  figures,  which  are  known  to  us  rather 
by  tradition  than  by  recorded  history.  First  among 
them,  on  the  side  of  the  patriots,  was  Robert  Sallette. 
Neither  history  nor  tradition  gives  us  the  place  of  his 
birth  or  the  date  of  his  death ;  yet  it  is  known  that 
he  played  a  more  important  part  in  the  struggle  in 
the  Colony  than  any  man  who  had  no  troops  at  his 
command.  He  seems  to  have  slipped  mysteriously  on 
the  scene  at  the  beginning  of  the  war.  He  fought 
bravely,  even  fiercely,  to  the  end,  and  then,  having 
nothing  else  to  do,  slipped  away  as  mysteriously  as 
he  came.  "In  Liberty  County,"  says  history,  "there 
lived  during  the  Revolution  a  man  by  the  name  of 
Robert  Sailette,  distinguished  for  his  opposition  to  the 
Tories.  It  is  not  known  with  certainty  to  what  par- 
ticular command  he  was  attached.  He  appears  to  have 
been  a  sort  of  roving  character,  doing  things  in  his 
own  way."  Here  is  the  mystery  of  romance  to  begin 
with.  Here  is  the  wanderer,  —  the  character  so  dear 
to  the  imagination  of  youth. 

"  The  Tories,"  says  history  further,  "  stood  very  much 
in  dread  of  him ;  and  well  they  might,  for  never  had 
they  a  more  formidable  foe."  Here,  then,  is  the  hero 

57 


58 

and  the  wanderer  combined  in  one  person,  and  that 
person  fighting  for  the  holiest  cause  in  which  man  can 
take  up  arms,  —  the  rights  and  liberties  of  the  people. 
What  more  could  be  asked  ? 

Curious  as  we  may  be  to  know  something  of  the 
personal  history  of  Robert  Sallette,  it  is  not  to  be  found 
chronicled  in  the  books.  The  French  twist  to  his  name 
makes  it  probable  that  he  was  a  descendant  of  those 
unfortunate  Acadians  who,  years  before,  had  been 
stripped  of  their  lands  and  possessions  in  Nova  Scotia 
by  the  British,  their  houses  and  barns  burned,  and 
they  themselves  transported  away  from  their  homes. 
They  were  scattered  at  various  points  along  the  Amer- 
ican coast.  Some  were  landed  at  Philadelphia,  and 
some  were  carried  to  Louisiana.  Four  hundred  were 
sent  to  Georgia.  The  British  had  many  acts  of  cruelty 
to  answer  for  in  those  days,  but  none  more  infamous 
than  this  treatment  of  the  gentle  and  helpless  Aca- 
dians. It  stands  in  history  to-day  a  stain  upon  the 
British  name. 

Another  fact  that  leads  to  the  belief  that  Robert 
Sallette  was  a  descendant  of  the  unfortunate  Acadians 
was  the  ferocity  with  which  he  pursued  the  British  and 
the  Tories.  The  little  that  is  told  about  him  makes  it 
certain  that  he  never  gave  quarter  to  the  enemies  of  his 
country. 

His  name  was  a  terror  to  the  Tories.  One  of  them, 
a  man  of  considerable  means,  offered  a  reward  of  one 
hundred  guineas  to  any  person  who  would  bring  him 
the  head  of  Robert  Sallette.  The  Tory  had  never  seen 
Sallette,  but  his  alarm  was  such  that  he  offered  a 


59 


reward  large  enough  to  tempt  some  one  to  assassinate 
the  daring  partisan.  When  Sallette  heard  of  the  re- 
ward, he  disguised  himself  as  a  farmer,  and  provided 
himself  with  a  pumpkin,  which  he  placed  in  a  bag. 
With  the  bag  swinging  across  his  shoulder,  he  made  his 
way  to  the  house  of  the  Tory.  He  was  invited  in,  and 
deposited  the  bag  on  the  floor  beside 
him,  the  pumpkin  striking  the  boards 
with  a  thump. 

"  I  have  brought  you  the 
head   of   Robert    Sallette," 
said    he.     "  I    hear   that 
you  have  offered  a  re- 
ward of  one  hundred 
guineas  for  it." 

"  Where  is  it  ?  " 
asked  the  Tory. 

"  I  have  it  with 
me,"   replied    Sal- 
lette,   shaking   the 
loose  end  of  the  bag. 
"  Count  me  out  the  money 
and  take  the  head." 

The  Tory,  neither  doubting  nor  sus- 
pecting,   counted    out    the    money,    and    placed   it   on 
the   table. 

"  Now  show  me  the  head,"  said  he. 

Sallette  removed  his  hat,  tapped  himself  on  the  fore- 
head, and  said,  "  Here  is  the  head  of  Robert  Sallette  !  " 

The  Tory  was  so  frightened  that  he  jumped  from  the 
room,  and  Sallette  pocketed  the  money  and  departed. 


6o 

On  one  occasion  Robert  Sallette  is  known  to  have 
spared  the  lives  of  two  Tories,  at  least  for  a  little  while. 
Once  when  he  and  Andrew  Walthour  (for  whom 
Walthourville  in  Georgia  is  named)  and  another  man 
were  riding  along  a  narrow  trail  late  in  the  afternoon, 
they  met  three  other  riders  whom  they  suspected  to 
be  Tories.  The  plan  that  Sallette  and  his  companions 
adopted  to  capture  the  men  was  very  simple.  An 
drew  Walthour,  who  was  riding  in  front,  was  to  pass  the 
first  and  second  men,  Robert  Sallette  to  pass  the  first. 
As  Walthour  came  to  the  third  man  when  Sallette  had 
come  to  the  second,  and  their  companion  to  the  first,  the 
Liberty  Boys  seized  the  guns  of  the  three  simultaneously. 
The  men  had  no  opportunity  either  to  fight  or  escape. 

"  Dismount,  gentlemen!"  said  Sallette.  Then  he  ad- 
dressed himself  to  the  leader.  "  What  is  your  name  ?  " 

In  reply  to  this,  a  fictitious  name  was  given,  as  Sal- 
lette and  his  companions  afterwards  found  out. 

"Where  is  your  camp  ?  "  asked  Sallette. 

"We  are  from  over  the  river,"  answered  the  man, 
meaning  the  Altamaha. 

"  Where  did  you  cross  ?  " 

"  At  Beards  Ferry."  This  was  where  the  Wliigs  and 
the  Liberty  Boys  were  most  numerous. 

"  That  is  not  true  !  "  exclaimed  Sallette. 

Then  he  turned  to  the  second  man,  asked  the  same 
questions,  and  received  the  same  replies.  He  turned  to 
the  third  man,  asked  the  same  questions,  and  received 
the  same  replies. 

"  If  you  do  not  tell  me  the  truth,"  exclaimed  Sallette 
to  this  last  man,  "  I'll  .cut  off  youY  head  !  " 


6i 

The  man  persisted,  and  Sallette  was  as  good  as  his 
word.  The  others  begged  for  their  lives,  and  declared 
that  they  would  guide  Sallette  straight  to  their  camp. 
This  they  did ;  and  Sallette,  aided  by  his  prisoners, 
captured  a  large  party  of  Tories. 

Once  when  Robert  Sallette  and  Andrew  Walthour* 
were  marching  with  the  advance  guard  of  the  American 
troops,  they  suddenly  met  the  advance  guard  of  the 
British.  A  short  but  sharp  skirmish  followed,  during 
which  a  very  large  man  of  the  British  guard  was  killed. 
Observing  that  the  dead  man  wore  a  pair  of  good  boots, 
Sallette  determined  to  get  them.  While  he  was  pulling 
them  off  in  the  midst  of  a  furious  fire  from  the  enemy, 
his  companions  called  out  to  him  to  come  away  or  he 
would  surely  be  killed.  "  I  must  have  the  boots  !  "  cried 
Sallette  to  his  companions.  "  I  want  them  for  little 
John  Way  !  " 

Here  was  fun  in  the  midst  of  tragedy ;  for  it  is  said 
that  little  John  Way  could  have  put  both  his  feet  and 
his  fists  into  one  of  the  boots. 

One  day  Sallette  dressed  himself  up  as  a  British 
officer  and  accepted  an  invitation  to  dine  with  a  party 
of  the  enemy.  Suddenly,  in  the  midst  of  the  toasting 
and  drinking,  Sallette  drew  his  sword,  killed  the  men 
who  sat  to  the  right  and  left  of  him,  sprang  on  his 
horse,  and  rode  off  unhurt,  though  he  was  in  such  a 
hurry  that  he  had  no  time  to  throw  the  bridle  reins  over 
the  horse's  head. 

At  the  White  House,  near  Sunbury,  Major  Baker,  of 
the  patriot  army,  with  thirty  men,  attacked  and  defeated 
a  party  of  Tories  under  command  of  Captain  Goldsmith. 


62 

Among  the  slain  was  Lieutenant  Gray,  whose  head  was 
almost  severed  from  his  body  by  a  stroke  of  Robert 
Sallette's  sword. 

On  many  occasions,  when  a  battle  was  in  progress, 
Sallette  would  detach  himself  from  the  American 
army,  gain  the  rear  of  the  enemy,  and  kill  many 
men  before  he  was  discovered.  If  this  brave  man 
was  indeed  a  descendant  of  the  Acadians,  he  avenged 
the  wrongs  of  many  of  his  countrymen. 

Another  character  who  attracted  attention  during 
the  War  of  the  Revolution  was  Patrick  Carr,  whose 
hatred  of  the  Tories  made  his  name  celebrated  among 
the  Liberty  Boys  of  Georgia.  Paddy  Carr,  as  he  was 
called,  lived  and  died  in  Jefferson  County.  He  was 
born  in  Ireland,  but  came  to  Georgia  before  the  Revo- 
lution. When  the  independence  movement  began,  he 
threw  himself  into  it  with  all  the  ardor  of  his  race. 
Owing  to  the  cruelty  of  the  Tories,  he  conceived  a 
special  hatred  against  them.  He  showed  them  no 
quarter.  History  gives  but  a  word  or  two  to  his 
achievements,  but  tradition  still  keeps  his  name  alive 
in  the  region  where  he  operated.  Like  Sallette,  he 
was  an  independent  partisan  ;  but,  unlike  Sallette,  his 
operations  were  among  those  who  could  remember 
well  enough,  but  who  would  not  take  the  trouble  to 
preserve  the  particulars  of  even  the  least  of  his  ex- 
ploits. We  know  that  Patrick  Carr  lived.  We  know 
that  he  became  famous  where  recklessness  and  daring 
were  common.  But  that  is  nearly  all  we  know.  It  is 
said  of  him  that  during  the  war  he  killed  one  hun- 
dred Tories  with  his  own  hands.  Once,  when  praised 


63 

for  his  bravery,  he  smiled  and  shook  his  head,  saying 
that  he  would  have  made  a  very  good  soldier,  but  the 
Lord  had  given  him  a  heart  that  was  too  merciful. 
He  no  doubt  remembered  the  atrocities  of  the  Tories 
in  the  section  that  is  now  Jefferson,  Columbia,  Burke, 
and  Wilkes  counties.  The  cruelties  they  committed  in 
that  region  during  the  Revolution  have  no  parallel  in 
civilized  warfare. 

Among  the  adventurous  characters  of  that  time,  on 
the  side  of  the  British,  Daniel  McGirth  stands  easily 
first.  The  history  of  his  career  during  the  war  is  a 
strange  one.  He  was  born  in  South  Carolina,  and 
entered  into  the  struggle  against  the  British  with 
the  utmost  enthusiasm.  He  was  a  brave  man,  a  hard 
fighter,  and  one  of  the  most  active  of  those  who  took 
up  arms  against  the  King.  He  was  an  expert  woods- 
man, and  was  at  ho  Tie  in  the  saddle.  He  was  as- 
signed to  duty  as  a  scout,  and  was  better  equipped 
for  that  service,  perhaps,  than  any  man  in  the  Amer- 
ican army.  The  ease  with  which  he  secured  informa- 
tion of  the  enemy's  movements  and  plans,  and  the 
energy  that  marked  his  movements,  made  his  services 
of  great  value  to  the  patriot  cause.  This  was  not 
thoroughly  appreciated  by  some  of  the  officers  under 
whom  McGirth  acted. 

He  brought  with  him  into  the  army  a  mare  which 
he  called  "The  Gray  Goose."  She  is  said  to  have 
been  an  elegant  animal,  and  McGirth  was  very  proud 
of  her.  With  this  mare  under  him,  he  always  felt  safe 
from  pursuit.  One  of  the  American  officers,  who  was  a 
good  judge  of  horseflesh,  and  who  probably  wanted  to 


64 

"cut  a  dash,"  as  the  saying  is,  saw  this  beautiful  mare, 
and  coveted  her.  Finding  that  McGirth  scorned  all 
offers  to  sell  her,  the  officer  adopted  various  means  to 
obtain  her.  These  efforts  were  resisted  by  McGirth, 
mainly  on  the  ground  that  the  mare  was  his  own  pri- 
vate property,  and  that  she  was  essential  to  the  duties 
he  was  called  on  to  perform.  Failing  to  gain  his  ends 
in  this  way,  the  officer  continued  to  worry  McGirth  in 
other  ways.  He  no  doubt  did  something  to  rouse  the 
ire  of  the  scout,  who  was  an  irritable  man,  and  who 
felt  the  importance  of  the  service  he  was  rendering  to 
the  cause.  It  is  not  now  known  how  McGirth  in- 
sulted the  officer,  —  whether  in  a  moment  of  passion 
he  struck  him,  or  whether  he  merely  used  rough  lan- 
guage to  him. 

Whatever  the  offense,  McGirth  was  placed  under 
arrest,  tried  by  a  court-martial,  found  guilty  of  violat- 
ing the  articles  of  war,  and  sentenced  to  be  whipped. 
He  received  this  punishment,  and  was  placed  in  con- 
finement again,  where  he  was  to  remain  until  he  re- 
ceived another  whipping.  While  thus  held,  he  saw 
his  mare  picketed  near  the  camp,  and  he  immediately 
resolved  to  escape.  He  was  successful  in  this.  Once 
free,  he  secured  The  Gray  Goose,  leaped  into  the 
saddle,  turned  around,  and,  in  the  face  of  his  pur- 
suers, pronounced  threats  of  vengeance  against  all 
the  Americans  for  his  ill  treatment. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  he  was  illtreated ;  but  if  he 
had  not  been  an  ignorant  man,  he  would  not  have  pro- 
nounced against  the  cause  of  liberty  on  account  of  the 
treatment  he  received  at  the  hands  of  individuals.  But 


the  savage  in  his  nature  was  aroused,  and  he  carried  out 
his  fierce  threats  to  the  fullest  extent.  For  the  time 
being,  he  attached  himself  to  another  American  com- 
mand ;  but  at  the  first  opportunity  he  deserted  to  the 
enemy,  and  became  the  scourge  and  terror  of  those  who 
opposed  the  British  cause.  He  ;  • 

spared  none.  '  His  field  ex- 
tended from  the  Florida  line 
to  the  Savannah  River,  in 
what  is  now  Elbert 
County,  and  far  into 
South  Carolina.  He 
appeared  when  least 
expected,  and  car- 
ried destruction 
with  him.  His 
mare  became  as  noted 
as  her  master.  In  what 
was  then  Upper  Georgia, 
she  was  known  as  ^v 
"The  Bald-faced 
Pony."  On  many 
an  occasion  he  owed 
his  life  to  the  fleetness 
of  his  mare.  But  his 
vengeance  was  never  satisfied :  it  was  always  active, 
and  thirsting  for  the  blood  of  the  American  patriot. 
The  whim  of  the  officer  to  possess  McGirth's  mare  was 
a  foolish  one  at  best.  It  was  the  cause  of  great  public 
and  private  suffering. 

When  South  Carolina  was  rescued  from  the  British, 

STO.  OF  GA.  —  5 


66 

McGirth  retreated  into  Georgia,  and  finally  into  Florida. 
When  the  Spaniards  regained  possession  of  that  terri- 
tory, he  became  subject  to  their  laws.  For  some  reason 
or  other  he  was  thrown  into  one  of  the  dungeons  of  the 
old  fort  at  St.  Augustine,  where  he  was  confined  for  five 
years.  When  released,  his  health  was  broken,  and  it 
was  with  great  difficulty  that  he  managed  to  return  to 
Sumter  District,  in  South  Carolina,  where  his  wife  lived. 

A  very  queer  and  eccentric  character  in  the  Revolu- 
tion was  Captain  Rory  Mclntosh,  of  Mallow.  Though 
Rory  was  a  kinsman  of  General  Lachlan  and  Colonel 
John  Mclntosh,  who  were  among  the  most  active  Lib- 
erty Boys  in  Georgia,  he  took  up  arms  for  the  King, 
and  a  very  devoted  Tory  he  was.  His  eccentricities 
would  have  been  called  whims  if  he  had  not  stuck  to 
them  with  such  constancy.  He  was  a  Highlander  and 
a  follower  of  the  Stuarts.  How  and  why  he  became 
loyal  to  the  new  line  of  British  kings,  history  does  not 
state  ;  but  his  clan  had  a  chief,  and  he  no  doubt  thought 
that  every  government  ought  to  have  a  monarch.  When 
the  Revolution  began,  he  was  over  sixty  years  of  age, 
and  was  living  comfortably  on  his  plantation  at  Mallow  ; 
but  he  volunteered,  and  fought  through  the  war. 

A  story  is  told  of  Rory  Mclntosh  that  once  when 
the  Spaniards  held  East  Florida,  he  carried  to  St. 
Augustine  a  drove  of  cattle.  He  received  payment  in 
dollars,  which  he  placed  in  a  canvas  bag  behind  him 
on  his  horse.  When  near  his  home,  the  bag  gave  way, 
and  a  part  of  the  money  fell  out.  He  secured  what 
was  left  and  rode  on,  paying  no  attention  to  that  which 
had  fallen  from  the  bag.  When  in  need  of  money 


67 


some  years  after,  he  returned  to  the  place  where  the 
dollars  had  spilled,  picked  up  as  many  as  he  wanted, 
and  went  back  home.  Whenever  he  could,  he  went 
about  accompanied  by  a  piper.  Rory  was  a  tall,  finely 
formed  man,  with  bristling  whiskers  and  a  ruddy  com- 
plexion :  consequently  when  he  appeared  on  parade,  he 
attracted  great  attention. 

In  1778  two  expeditions  were  sent  from  St.  Augustine 
for  the  purpose  of  attacking  Savannah,  — 
one  by  sea,  and  one  by  land  under  com- 
mand of  Lieutenant  Colonel  Prevost.  This 
land  expedition  had 
been  joined  by  Cap- 
tain Roderick  Mcln- 
tosh,  in  the  capacity 
of  a  volunteer.  He 
attached  himself  par- 
ticularly to  the 
infantry  company 
commanded  by  Captain 
Murray.  When  the  British 
laid  siege  to  Sunbury  and 
the  fort,  Captain  Murray's  company  was  in 
the  line  near  the  fort.  One  morning  when  Captain  Rory 
had  had  a  dram  too  much,  he  determined  to  sally  out  and 
summon  the  fort  to  surrender.  His  comrades  tried  to  re- 
strain him,  but  he  was  determined.  Finally  he  strutted 
out,  a  drawn  claympre  in  his  hand,  with  his  trusty  slave 
Jim.  He  approached  the  fort  and  cried  out, — 

"  Surrender,  you  miscreants  !     How  dare  you  presume 
to  resist  his  Majesty's  arms?" 


68 

Colonel  Mclntosh,  who  commanded  the  fort,  saw  at 
once  the  condition  of  Captain  Rory,  and  forbade  the 
men  to  fire.  Then  he  threw  open  the  gate,  and  said,  — 

"Walk  in,  Mr.  Mclntosh,  and  take  possession." 

"No,"  cried  Rory,  "I'll  not  trust  myself  among 
such  vermin.  I  order  you  to  surrender!" 

At  that  moment  a  rifle  was  fired  by  some  one  in  the 
fort,  and  the  ball  passed  through  Captain  Rory's  face 
from  side  to  side  under  the  eyes.  He  fell  backwards, 
but  immediately  recovered,  and  stood  on  his  feet  flour- 
ishing his  claymore.  Then  he  began  to  walk  backward, 
his  face  to  the  fort.  Several  shots  were  fired  at  him, 
and  Jim  called  out,  — 

"  Run,  massa,  run  !  dey  kill  you  !  " 

"Run!"  cried  Rory  scornfully.  "You  may  run,  but 
I  belong  to  a  race  that  never  runs !  " 

It  was  at  the  siege  of  Sunbury  that  Colonel  Mcln- 
tosh, when  summoned  by  Colonel  Prevost  to  surrender 
the  fort,  sent  back  the  reply,  "  COME  AND  TAKE  IT  !  " 


AUNT    NANCY    HART. 

lived  in  Georgia,  during  the  Revolutionary 
1  struggle,  the  most  remarkable  woman  in  some 
respects  that  the  country  has  produced.  To  find  her 
match,  we  shall  have  to  go  to  the  fables  that  are  told 
about  the  Amazons.  The  Liberty  Boys  called  her 
Aunt  Nancy  Hart.  The  Indians,  struck  by  her  won- 
derful feats  in  behalf  of  her  country,  called  her  "  The 
War  Woman;  "  and  there  is  a  creek  in  Elbert  County, 
where  she  lived,  that  was  named  by  the  Indians 
"  War  Woman's  Creek." 

There  are  other  heroines  to  whom  history  has 
paid  more  attention,  and  whose  deeds  have  been  cele- 
brated in  song  and  story ;  but  not  one  of  them  was 
more  devoted  to  the  high  cause  of  freedom,  or  more 
courageous,  or  depended  less  on  aid  from  others,  than 
Aunt  Nancy  Hart.  In  this  last  respect,  the  Wai- 
Woman  of  Georgia  stands  alone  in  history,  just  as 
she  stood  alone  when  the  Tories  were  waging  a  war.  of 
extermination,  sparing  neither  women  nor  children,  in 
the  region  in  which  she  lived.  Invention  and  fable 
have  kindly  come  to  the  aid  of  the  most  famous  of 
the  world's  heroines,  but  neither  fable  nor  invention 
has  touched  the  character  or  the  deeds  of  this  hero- 
ine of  the  Revolution.  She  stands  out  on  the  pages 

69 


of  history  rough,  uncouth,  hot-tempered,  unmanageable, 
uneducated,  impolite,  ugly,  and  sharp-tongued ;  but,  as 
her  friends  said  of  her,  "  What  a  honey  of  a  patriot 
she  was ! "  She  loved  the  Liberty  Boys  as  well  as 
she  loved  her  own  children.  It  has  been  said  that 
she  was  cruel ;  but  this  charge  may  as  well  be  put 
out  of  sight.  Before  passing  upon  it,  we  should  have 
to  know  what  the  War  Woman's  eyes  had  seen,  and 
what  terrible  revelations  her  ears  had  heard.  Standing 
for  American  independence  in  a  region  that  swarmed 
with  Tories,  whose  murderous  deeds  never  have  been 
and  never  will  be  fully  set  forth,  Aunt  Nancy  Hart 
had  to  defend  her  own  hearthstone  and  her  own 
children. 

The  maiden  name  of  this  remarkable  woman  was 
Morgan,  and  she  was  born  in  North  Carolina.  She 
married  Benjamin  Hart,  a  brother  of  Colonel  Thomas 
Hart  of  Kentucky.  Thomas  Hart  was  the  father  of 
the  wife  of  Henry  Clay,  and  the  uncle  of  the  cele- 
brated Thomas  Hart  Benton.  Aunt  Nancy  and  her 
husband  moved  to  Georgia  with  the  North  Carolina 
emigrants,  and  settled  on  Broad  River,  in  what  is 
now  Elbert  County.  She  was  nearly  six  feet  high,  and 
very  muscular,  —  the  result  of  hard  work.  She  had 
red  hair,  and  it  is  said  that  she  was  cross-eyed,  but 
this  has  been  denied  on  good  authority.  It  matters 
little.  Her  eyes  were  keen  enough  to  pierce  through 
all  Tory  disguises,  and  that  was  enough  for  her.  It 
is  certain  that  her  courage  and  her  confidence  kept 
alive  the  spark  of  liberty  in  hearts  that  would  other- 
wise have  smothered  it,  and  was  largely  responsible 


for  kindling  it  into  the  flame  that  finally  swept  the 
British  out  of  that  section,  and  subdued  the  Tories. 
When  the  Whigs  and  patriots  who  had  been  her 
neighbors  were  compelled  to  flee  before  the  murderous 
Tories,  she  refused  to  go  with  them,  but  stood  her 
ground  and  never  ceased  to  speak  her  sentiments 
boldly.  Nothing  but  the  wholesome  dread  with  which 
she  had  inspired  them  prevented  the  Tories  from  mur- 
dering her  and  her  children.  When  General  Elijah 
Clarke  moved  the  women  and  children  of  the  Broad 
River  region  to  an  asylum  in  Kentucky,  and  the  Lib- 
erty Boys  had  taken  refuge  in  South  Carolina,  Aunt 
Nancy  Hart  remained  at  home,  and  for  a  long  and 
dismal  period  she  was  unprotected  save  by  her  own 
remarkable  courage. 

At  that  period  the  houses  were  built  of  logs,  and 
the  chimneys  were  built  of  sticks  plastered  with  clay. 
They  were  called  "  stack  chimneys."  One  evening 
Aunt  Nancy  and  her  children  were  sitting  around  the 
fire,  on  which  a  pot  of  soap  was  boiling.  Now,  a  pot 
of  soap  must  be  constantly  stirred,  and  for  this  the 
strong,  muscular  arms  of  Aunt  Nancy  were  peculiarly 
fitted.  So  she  stirred  the  soap,  and,  as  she  stirred,  told 
the  youngsters  the  latest  news  of  the  war.  Presently 
one  of  her  children  chanced  to  discover  some  one 
peeping  through  the  crack  of  the  chimney,  eaves- 
dropping. By  a  gesture  or  a  nod  of  the  head  Aunt 
Nancy  was  informed  of  what  was  going  on.  She 
smiled,  and  grew  more  spirited  in  her  talk,  rattling 
away  and  laughing  as  she  gave  exaggerated  accounts 
of  the  recent  defeats  of  the  Tories.  As  she  talked, 


she    stirred    the   bubbling    soap,    and    kept    her    keen 

eyes  on  the  crack  where  the  eavesdropper    had    been 

seen.     Suddenly   she  dashed  a  ladleful  of  boiling  soap 

through    the  crack    full  into  the  face  of   the  intruder. 

It    was    so    quickly   and    deftly    done,    that    the 

eavesdropper  had  no  time  to  dodge  the  scalding 

stuff.     He    received    the  full 
>* 

benefit    of     it.       Blinded     and 
half   crazed    by    the   pain,    he 
howled    and     screamed    at    a 
tremendous     rate.      Aunt 
Nancy     went     out,      and, 
after    amusing    herself     at     his 
expense,    bound    him    fast    and 
held    him    prisoner.     The    prob- 
ability is    that  the  next  day   she 
tucked   up    her    petticoats,   shoul- 
dered  her   gun,    and    com- 
pelled   the    unlucky    Tory 
to  ford    the   river  ahead  of 
her ;  and  that,  once  on  the 
other    side,     she     kept    in 
constant        communication 
with  the  Clarkes    and   with 
other      partisans      of      the 
American  cause. 

Her  husband,  whom  she  sometimes  jokingly  de- 
scribed as  "  a  poor  stick,"  assisted  her  in  her  commu- 
nications. A  conch  shell  was  kept  at  the  spring,  some 
distance  from  the  house.  On  this  conch  shell  the  chil- 
dren were  taught  to  blow  the  blasts  that  gave  Mr.  Hart 


73 

information.  One  signal  was,  "  The  enemy  is  at  hand;T:< 
another  was,  "  Keep  close ;  "  another,  "  Make  tracks  for 
the  swamp ; "  and  still  another  was  that  he  and  his 
friends  were  wanted  at  the  cabin. 

At  the  very  darkest  hour  of  the  Revolution  in 
Georgia,  Aunt  Nancy  performed  one  of  her  most  re- 
markable feats, —  one  that  brought  into  play  all  the 
courage  and  devotion  of  her  strong  nature,  and  all  the 
tact  and  audacity  that  belonged  to  her  character. 

Brigadier  General  Andrew  Williamson,  with  three 
hundred  men,  was  encamped  near  Augusta.  When 
Charleston  fell,  this  officer,  who  was  already  a  traitor, 
though  his  treachery  had  not  been  avowed,  called  his 
officers  together,  and  expressed  the  opinion  that  it 
would  be  foolish  to  further  resist  the  King.  He  there- 
fore advised  them  to  return  to  their  homes,  and  there 
accept  the  protection  which  would  be  offered  them. 
He  then  abandoned  his  command,  which  was  immedi- 
ately disbanded.  Shortly  afterwards  Colonels  Brown 
and  Garrison,  two  partisans  of  the  King's  army  who  had 
made  themselves  notorious  by  their  cruelty  to  Ameri- 
cans, seized  Augusta.  Brown  had  been  tarred  and 
feathered  in  Augusta  just  before  the  breaking-out  of 
the  Revolution,  and  he  made  the  patriots  of  that  town 
and  of  the  country  roundabout  pay  dearly  for  the  indig- 
nities that  had  been  heaped  upon  him  on  account  of 
his  loyalty  to  the  Crown.  He  confiscated  the  property 
of  the  patriots,  and  issued  an  order  banishing  all  Whig 
families  beyond  the  borders  of  Georgia. 

Raiding  parties  were  sent  into  the  region  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Augusta  to  compel  the  inhabitants  to 


74 

take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  King.  One  of  these 
parties  entered  the  house  of  Colonel  John  Dooly,  a  gal- 
lant officer,  and  murdered  him  in  cold  blood  in  the  pres- 
ence of  his  wife  and  children.  Colonel  Dooly  was  the 
father  of  Judge  Dooly,  who  became  famous  in  Georgia 
after  the  war. 

A  detachment  of  this  murdering  party  found  its  way 
to  Aunt  Nancy  Hart's  cabin.  There  were  five  Tories 
in  the  detachment,  and  Aunt  Nancy  received  them 
coldly  enough.  They  told  her  they  had  come  to  inquire 
into  the  truth  of  a  report  they  had  heard  to  the  effect 
that  she  had  aided  a  well-known  rebel  to  escape  from 
a  company  of  King's  men  by  whom  he  was  pursued. 
With  a  twinkle  of  malice  in  her  eyes,  Aunt  Nancy 
boldly  declared  that  she  had  aided  her  Liberty  Boy  to 
escape,  and  then  she  described  the  affair. 

She  said  that  one  day  she  heard  the  gallop  of  a  horse. 
Looking  out,  she  saw  a  horseman  approaching,  and  at 
once  knew  him  to  be  a  Whig  flying  from  pursuers. 
She  let  down  the  bars  near  her  cabin,  told  him  to  ride 
his  horse  right  through  her  house,  in  at  the  front  door 
and  out  at  the  back,  to  take  to  the  swamp,  and  hide 
himself  the  best  he  could.  She  then  put  up  the  bars, 
entered  her  house,  closed  the  doors,  and  went  about  her 
business.  In  a  little  while  a  party  of  Tories  rode  up, 
and  called  to  her  with  some  rudeness.  She  muffled  her 
head  and  face  in  a  shawl,  opened  the  door  slowly,  and 
asked  in  a  feeble  voice  who  it  was  that  wanted  to  pester 
a  sick,  lone  woman.  The  Tories  said  they  had  been  pur- 
suing a  man,  and  had  traced  him  near  her  house.  They 
wanted  to  know  if  any  one  had  passed  that  way.  "  I 


75 

told  'em,"  said  Aunt  Nancy  to  the  listening  Tories,  "that 
I  had  seen  a  man  on  a  sorrel  horse  turn  out  of  the  road 
into  the  woods  a  little  ways  back.  So  they  went  back 
and  took  to  the  woods,  and  my  Whig  boy  got  off  safe 
and  sound." 

Naturally  this  story,  boldly  told,  did  not  please  the 
five  Tories  who  heard  it ;  but  something  in  the  War 
Woman's  eye  prevented  them  from  offering  her  any 
personal  injury.  Instead,  they  ordered  her  to  give 
them  something  to  eat. 

"  I  never  feed  King's  men  if  I  can  help  it,"  she 
replied.  "The  scamps  have  fixed  me  so  that  I  can't 
feed  my  own  family  in  a  decent  manner.  They  have 
run  off  with  all  my  pigs  and  poultry  except  that  old 
gobbler  you  see  in  the  yard  there." 

"Well,  you  shall  cook  the  old  gobbler  for  us,"  ex- 
claimed one  who  seemed  to  be  the  leader  of  the 
party.  Suiting  the  action  to  the  word,  he  raised  his 
musket  and  shot  the  gobbler.  One  of  his  men  brought 
it  into  the  house  and  gave  it  to  Aunt  Nancy,  with  or- 
ders to  clean  and  cook  it  at  once.  This,  of  course, 
made  that  stanch  patriot  very  angry,  and  she  gave  the 
Tories  a  violent  tongue  lashing. 

It  is  probable  that  while  she  was  dressing  the  turkey 
for  the  pot,  the  Tories  let  some  hint  drop  about  the 
outrageous  murder  of  Colonel  John  Dooly,  who  was  a 
warm  friend  of  Aunt  Nancy's.  At  any  rate,  she  sud- 
denly changed  her  tactics.  She  ceased  to  storm  and 
quarrel,  the  scowl  left  her  face,  and  she  soon  seemed 
to  be  in  high  good  humor.  She  went  about  getting 
the  meal  ready  with  great  good  will.  She  sent  her 


76 

little  girl  to  the  spring  after  water,  but  told  her  to 
sound  on  the  conch  shell  the  signal  to  "keep  close," 
so  that  her  husband  and  his  neighbors  who  were  with 
him  might  know  there  were  Tories  in  the  cabin. 

While  the  daughter  was  gone  after  water,  one  of  the 
Tories  volunteered  to  take  her  place  in  helping  to  get 
everything  ready.  Aunt  Nancy  accepted  his  services, 
and  joked  with  him  with  great  freedom  and  familiar- 
ity. Like  all  women  of  spirit  and  independence,  Aunt 
Nancy  possessed  a  considerable  fund  of  humor,  and  it 
stood  her  in  good  stead  now.  She  contrived  to  thor- 
oughly interest  the  Tories,  and  it  was  not  long  before 
they  were  in  the  most  jovial  frame  of  mind  imagina- 
ble. They  had  expected  to  find  a  bad-tempered,  ill- 
conditioned  woman ;  and  they  were  agreeably  surprised 
when  they  found,  instead,  a  woman  who  could  match 
their  rude  jests,  and  make  herself  thoroughly  enter- 
taining. 

The  Tories  had  brought  a  jug  with  them,  and  they 
were  so  pleased  with  Aunt  Nancy's  seeming  friendli- 
ness that  they  invited  her  to  drink  with  -them.  "I'll 
take  one  swig  with  you,"  said  Aunt  Nancy,  "  if  it  kills 
every  cow  on  the  Island,"  meaning  a  neck  of  land  at 
the  junction  of  river  and  creek  where  the  Whig  fami- 
lies of  the  neighborhood  pastured  their  cattle  and  hid 
them.  The  Tories  laughed  and  drank,  and  then  they 
laughed  and  drank  again.  They  kept  this  up  until  the 
old  gobbler  had  been  cooked  to  Aunt  Nancy's  satisfac- 
tion ;  and  by  the  time  they  were  ready  to  sit  down  to 
table  they  were  in  a  very  merry  mood  indeed. 

They  had  stacked    their   arms  within  easy  reach    of 


77 

where  they  had  been  sitting  and  drinking ;  but  Aunt 
Nancy  had  moved  her  table  to  the  middle  of  the  floor, 
so  as  to  be  able  to  walk  around  it  on  all  sides  while 
waiting  on  the  Tories.  In  helping  the  men  to  the 
turkey  and  other  eatables  that  she  had  prepared,  she 
frequently  came  between  them  and  their  muskets.  The 
Tories  had  hardly  begun  to  eat  before  they  called  for 
water.  Aunt  Nancy,  expecting  this,  had  used  up  in 
cooking  all  that  had  been  brought  :  consequently  her 
daughter  had  to  take  the  piggin  and  go  to  the  spring 
after  a  fresh  supply.  She  went  with  instructions  to  sig- 
nal her  father,  and  the  neighbors  who  were  with  him,  to 
come  immediately  to  the  cabin.  While  her  daughter 
was  at  the  spring,  Aunt  Nancy  managed  to  pull  off 
one  of  the  boards  that  filled  the  space  between  the  logs 
of  the  house,  and  through  this  crack  she  slipped  two 
of  the  muskets.  She  was  slipping  the  third  through 
when  her  movements  caught  the  eye  of  one  of  the 
Tories.  Instantly  the  men  sprang  to  their  feet,  but 
Aunt  Nancy  was  now  in  her  element.  Quick  as  a 
flash  she  clapped  the  musket  to  her  shoulder,  and 
threatened  to  shoot  the  first  man  that  approached  her. 
The  men,  knowing  her  reputation  as  a  fighter,  and 
awed  by  her  appearance,  hesitated.  At  last  one  bolder 
than  the  rest  began  to  advance  toward  her.  She  fired 
promptly,  and  at  the  report  of  the  gun  the  man  fell 
dead  on  the  floor. 

Before  the  others  could  recover  from  their  conster- 
nation, Aunt  Nancy  had  seized  another  musket,  and 
held  it  in  readiness  to  fire  again.  Her  daughter  had 
now  returned  from  the  spring  with  the  information 


78 

that  her  father  and  his  neighbors  would  soon  arrive. 
Directed  by  her  mother,  the  girl  took  the  remaining 
musket  and  carried  it  out  of  the  house.  The  Tories, 
seeing  that  no  time  was  to  be  lost  in  recovering  their 
arms,  proposed  to  rush  upon  Aunt  Nancy  in  a  body 


and  overpower  her.  But  the  War  Woman  was  equal 
to  the  occasion.  She  fired  again,  and  brought  down 
another  Tory.  As  she  did  so,  the  daughter,  acting  on 
her  orders,  handed  her  another  musket.  Then,  taking 
position  in  the  doorway,  she  called  on  the  men  to  "  sur- 
render their  ugly  Tory  carcasses  to  a  Whig  woman." 


79 

The  Tories  agreed  to  surrender,  and  wanted  to  shake 
hands  to  make  the  bargain  binding ;  but  Aunt  Nancy 
kept  her  position  in  the  doorway  until  her  husband  and 
his  friends  made  their  appearance.  The  Whigs  wanted 
to  shoot  the  Tories;  but  Aunt  Nancy,  whose  blood 
was  up,  declared  that  shooting  was  too  good  for  them. 
"They've  murdered  John  Dooly,"  she  exclaimed;  "now 
let  them  hang  for  it!"  Thereupon  the  Tories  were 
taken  out  and  hanged.  The  tree  from  which  they 
swung  was  still  standing  as  late  as  1838,  and  was 
often  pointed  out  by  old  people  who  had  lived  through 
the  troubled  times  of  the  Revolution. 

One  day  Aunt  Nancy  met  a  Tory  going  along  the 
highway.  She  engaged  him  in  conversation,  diverted 
his  attention,  and  suddenly  seized  his  gun  and  wrenched 
it  away  from  him.  She  then  ordered  him  to  take  up 
the  line  of  march  for  a  fort  not  far  distant.  Not  daring 
to  disobey,  the  man  marched  before  her,  as  many  others 
had  been  compelled  to  do,  and  she  turned  him  over  to 
the  commander  of  the  fort. 

When  Augusta  was  in  the  hands  of  the  British,  and 
their  raiding  parties  had  been  driven  in  by  the  Ameri- 
cans under  Colonel  Elijah  Clarke,  it  became  necessary 
for  that  commander  to  get  some  positive  information 
in  regard  to  the  intentions  of  the  British.  At  this 
juncture  Aunt  Nancy  came  to  the  rescue.  She  dis- 
guised herself  as  a  man,  and  went  boldly  into  the 
British  camp.  She  remained  there  for  several  days, 
pretending  to  be  crazy.  In  this  way  she  secured  a 
great  deal  of  important  information,  and  made  haste 
to  carry  it  to  Colonel  Clarke. 


8o 

Aunt  Nancy  was  once  left  in  a  fort  with  several 
other  women  and  a  number  of  small  children,  her  own 
among  the  rest.  The  men  had  gone  out  in  search  of 
supplies.  They  had  not  expected  an  attack,  and  had 
left  only  one  of  their  number,  a  young  man,  to  protect 
the  women  and  children.  Suddenly  a  party  of  Tories 
and  Indians  made  its  appearance,  and  surrounded  the 
fort,  which  was  nothing  more  than  a  stockade.  The 
yelling  of  the  savages  threw  all  the  women  and  children 
into  the  utmost  confusion,  —  all  except  Aunt  Nancy. 
That  wonderful  woman,  who  never  knew  what  fear 
was,  only  became  more  energetic  in  the  face  of  danger. 
There  was  a  small  cannon  in  the  fort,  but  it  was  not 
in  position  to  reach  the  enemy  with  its  fire.  After 
trying  her  best  to  lift  the  cannon  into  position,  Aunt 
Nancy  remembered  the  young  man  who  had  been  left 
in  the  fort,  and  looked  about  for  him  ;  but  he  was  not 
to  be  seen.  A  close  search  discovered  him  hiding 
under  a  cowhide.  Aunt  Nancy  pulled  him  out  by  the 
heels,  and  vowed  she  would  make  mince-meat  of  him 
unless  he  helped  her  to  move  the  cannon.  The  fellow 
knew  perfectly  well  that  Aunt  Nancy  was  not  to  be 
trifled  with  when  her  blood  was  up.  He  gave  her  the 
necessary  assistance.  She  aimed  the  cannon  and  fired 
it,  and  the  Tories  and  savages  promptly  took  to  their 
heels. 

On  another  occasion  when  the  river  was  high,  it  be- 
came necessary  for  the  Americans  on  the  Georgia  side 
to  know  what  was  going  on  on  the  Carolina  side ;  but 
no  one  could  be  induced  to  venture  across.  Hearing 
of  the  difficulty,  Aunt  Nancy  promptly  undertook  to  go. 


81 

The  freshet  had  swept  away  all  the  boats,  but  to  Aunt 
Nancy  this  was  a  trifling  matter.  She  found  a  few 
logs,  tied  them  together  with  grapevines,  and  on  this 
raft  made  the  voyage  across  the  river.  She  gathered 
the  necessary  information,  and  made  haste  to  commu- 
nicate it  to  the  Georgia  troops. 

Aunt  Nancy  was  the  mother  of  eight  children,  —  six 
sons  and  two  daughters.  Her  eldest  daughter,  Sally, 
married  a  man  named  Thompson,  who  was  as  quick- 
tempered as  his  mother-in-law.  After  the  war,  Aunt 
Nancy  moved  to  Brunswick.  Sally  and  her  husband 
followed  a  year  or  two  later.  In  passing  through 
Burke  County,  they  camped  for  the  night  by  the  road- 
side. The  next  morning  Tnompson  ordered  a  white 
man,  who  had  been  hired  as  a  teamster,  to  perform 
some  duty.  Thompson's  tone  was  so  peremptory  that 
the  man  returned  an  insolent  answer,  and  refused.  In 
a  fit  of  rage,  Thompson  drew  his  sword,  and  severed  the 
man's  head  from  his  body  with  one  swinging  stroke. 
He  then  drove  the  team  himself  until  he  came  to  the 
first  house,  where  he  gave  information  that  he  had  cut 
off  a  fellow's  head  at  the  camp  down  the  road,  and 
that  they  "  had  best  go  and  bury  him."  He  then  drove 
on,  but  was  overtaken,  arrested,  and  lodged  in  jail  at 
Waynesboro.  As  soon  as  Aunt  Nancy  heard  of  the 
trouble,  she  made  her  appearance  in  the  upcountry  again. 
Within  a  few  days  after  her  return,  the  jail  was  found 
open  one  morning,  and  Thompson  was  gone.  Speaking 
of  this  afterwards,  Aunt  Nancy  was  heard  to  exclaim,— 

"  Drat  'em  !  that's  the  way  with  'em  all.  When  they 
get  into  trouble,  they  always  send  for  me !  " 

STO.  OF  GA.  — 6 


82 

Not  long  after  this  episode,  Mr.  Benjamin  Hart  died. 
Aunt  Nancy  mourned  his  loss  for  a  while,  and  then  mar- 
ried a  young  man.  Then,  as  the  saying  is,  she  "  pulled 
up  stakes,"  and  moved  to  what  is  now  the  State  of 
Alabama,  on  the  Tombigbee.  There  she  had  the  French 
and  the  Spaniards  for  neighbors,  and  she  felt  at  home 
with  neither  race.  She  was  bluntly,  emphatically,  and 
unaffectedly  American.  To  add  to  her  troubles,  a  big 
rain  flooded  the  river,  destroyed  her  crops,  and  sur- 
rounded her  house.  This,  with  the  French  and  Span- 
iards, was  too  much  for  her.  She  returned  to  Georgia, 
but,  finding  her  old  home  occupied  by  others,  she  settled 
in  Edgefield,  S.C. 

A  Methodist  society  was  formed  in  her  neighborhood, 
and  its  influence  became  so  active  that  Aunt  Nancy's 
conscience  began  to  trouble  her.  She  listened  to  the 
preaching  of  the  Word  from  a  distance  until  she  be- 
came worried  about  her  future  state.  She  went  to 
the  meetinghouse,  but  found  the  door  closed  against 
intruders.  The  deacon  and  members  were  holding 
a  class  meeting.  The  closed  door  was  no  obstacle 
to  Aunt  Nancy.  She  cut  the  fastening  and  walked 
in  without  ceremony.  Once  in,  she  found  what  she 
wanted.  She.  became  an  enthusiastic  Methodist,  and 
is  said  to  have  fought  Satan  and  sin  as  manfully  as  she 
fought  the  Tories  and  the  British. 

When  Governor  George  R.  Gilmer  of  Georgia  was  in 
Congress,  in  1828-29,  the  members  were  very  anxious 
to  attract  the  notice  of  General  Jackson,  who  had  been 
elected  President.  A  proposal  was  made  to  fill  the 
vacant  niches  in  the  rotunda  with  paintings  descriptive 


83 

of  the  battle  of  New  Orleans  and  the  general's  other 
victories.  Governor  Gilmer  offered  as  an  amendment 
a  resolution  to  fill  one  of  the  niches  with  a  painting  of 
Aunt  Nancy  Hart  wading  Broad  River,  her  petticoats 
held  up  with  one  hand,  a  musket  in  the  other,  and 
driving  three  Tories  before  her,  to  deliver  them  up  to 
Colonel  Elijah  Clarke. 

Governor  Gilmer's  proposition  was  a  more  sensible 
one  than  he  intended  it  to  be.  Georgia  has  perpetu- 
ated Aunt  Nancy's  name  by  calling  a  county  after  her; 
but  the  Republic  owes  something  to  her  memory. 


TWO  SOLDIERS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION. 

THE  pen  of  the  historian  is  not  always  as  impartial 
as  it  should  be.  It  has  its  spites  and  prejudices; 
and  it  frequently  happens  that  the  men  who  wield  the 
pen  with  which  history  is  written,  have  their  whims, 
their  likes,  and  their  dislikes.  It  is  certain  that  two  of 
the  hardest  fighters  in  the  War  for  Independence — two 
of  the  most  distinguished  officers  that  Georgia  gave  to 
the  cause  —  have  had  tardy  justice  done  to  their  valor. 
The  names  of  these  men  are  General  James  Jackson 
and  General  Elijah  Clarke.  The  independence  and  the 
individuality  of  these  men  stand  clearly  out  in  all  the 
records  that  we  have  of  them,  and  it  is  no  doubt  true 
that  these  qualities  made  them  to  some  degree  unpopu- 
lar with  those  who  inspired  the  early  chroniclers  of  the 
Revolution  in  the  South.  Neither  of  these  officers 
was  capable  of  currying  favor  with  his  superiors,  or  of 
doing  injustice  to  the  humblest  of  his  comrades.  They 
were  not  seekers  after  the  bubble  reputation,  but  had 
their  minds  and  all  their  energies  bent  on  liberating 
Georgia  and  her  sister  Colonies. 

General  James  Jackson  was  born  in  the  county  of 
Devon,  England.  He  came  to  this  country  in  1772, 
landing  at  Savannah  penniless  and  almost  friendless. 
He  began  the  study  of  law ;  but  when  the  Liberty  Boys 

84 


85 

began  their  movement  for  resisting  British  oppression, 
he  placed  his  books  on  their  shelves,  and  gave  himself 
entirely  to  the  cause  of  the  people.  When  only  nine- 
teen years  old,  he  was  one  of  the  volunteers  that  fired 
the  British  armed  vessels  sent  to  attack  Savannah  by 
water,  while  Major  Maitland  and  Major  Grant  attacked 
it  by  land.  The  crews  of  these  vessels  were  compelled 
to  escape  without  their  clothes  and  arms.  General 
Jackson  served  in  the  lower  part  of  Georgia  until  the 
fall  of  Savannah  in  1778,  when  he  and  his  friend  John 
Milledge  made  their  way  to  the  patriot  troops,  com- 
manded by  General  Moultrie.  Such  was  the  condition 
of  these  men,  both  of  whom  afterwards  became  gov- 
ernors of  Georgia,  that  they  were  compelled  to  make 
the  greater  part  of  their  journey  barefoot  and  in  rags. 
Their  appearance  was  so  much  against  them  that  they 
were  arrested  as  spies  by  some  American  soldiers,  and 
would  have  been  hanged  but  for  the  timely  arrival  of  a 
gentleman  who  knew  them. 

General  Jackson  was  at  the  siege  of  Savannah,  and, 
after  the  disastrous  result  of  that  affair,  returned  to 
South  Carolina.  The  victory  of  the  Americans  at 
Blackstock's  House,  in  South  Carolina,  was  almost 
wholly  due  to  the  Georgians  who  were  there.  Sum- 
ter  commanded  at  the  beginning  of  the  action,  but  a 
severe  wound  compelled  him  to  retire  from  the  field. 
The  command  then  devolved  upon  the  oldest  Georgia 
officer,  General  John  Twiggs,  who  was  assisted  by 
Jackson,  Clarke,  and  Chandler.  In  this  engagement 
Tarleton,  the  famous  leader  of  the  British  dragoons,  was 
defeated  for  the  first  time,  and  he  was  never  able  to 


86 


recover  the  prestige  he  had  lost.     Tarleton 
fled  from  the  field,  and   Jackson 
was  ordered  to  pursue  him.     It 
was  owing  only  to  the  fleetness 
of    his    horse    that    Tarleton 
escaped. 

At  the  battle  of  The  Cow- 
pens,  Jackson  again  distin- 
guished himself.  "Major 
Jackson,"  says  General 
Andrew  Pickens,  "by  his 
example,  and  firm,  active 
conduct,  did  much  to 
animate  the  soldiers 
and  insure  the  success 
of  the  day.  He  ran 
the  utmost  risk  of  his 
life  in  seizing  the  colors 
of  the  7  ist  British  Reg- 
iment, and  afterwards 
introducing  Major  Mc- 
Arthur,  commanding 
officer  of  the  British 
Infantry,  as  a  prisoner  of  war  to  General  Morgan." 
His  services  brought  him  to  the  attention  of  General 
Greene,  and  he  was  sent  on  a  tour  of  difficult  duty 
through  North  Carolina.  He  was  so  successful  in  this, 
that  the  commanding  general  authorized  him  to  raise  a 
partisan  legion  of  infantry  and  cavalry  for  service  in 
Georgia.  By  means  of  his  native  eloquence,  which 
was  said  to  be  almost  irresistible,  he  succeeded  in  rais- 


87 

ing  the  legion  in  a  very  short  time.  Wherever  he 
addressed  the  people,  there  were  loud  cries  of  "  Liberty 
and  Jackson  forever ! "  When  his  legion  had  been 
organized,  he  was  appointed  lieutenant  colonel.  His 
dragoons  were  clothed  and  armed  by  themselves,  with 
the  exception  of  their  pistols.  Their  coats  were  made 
of  dressed  deerskins,  and  faced  with  the  little  blue  that 
could  be  procured. 

Just  before  the  siege  of  Augusta,  Jackson  was  called 
upon  to  employ  his  eloquence  in  preventing  the  militia 
from  giving  up  in  despair  and  returning  to  their  homes. 
These  men  were  utterly  worn  out.  Being  ignorant 
men,  they  could  see  no  ray  of  hope.  They  lacked 
every  necessary  of  life.  Jackson  roused  their  droop- 
ing spirits,  restored  their  hopes,  and  revived  their  old- 
time  enthusiasm.  At  the  siege  of  Augusta  these  men 
fought  fiercely.  Jackson  himself  led  one  of  the  ad- 
vance parties.  After  the  surrender  of  the  town,  he 
was  ordered  to  level  the  fortifications,  and  he  was 
appointed  commandant.  He  was  afterwards  ordered 
to  take  position  midway  between  Augusta  and  Savan- 
nah. While  he  held  this  position,  a  conspiracy  was 
formed  in  the  infantry  to  kill  him  in  his  bed.  A  sol- 
dier named  Davis,  who  waited  in  the  commander's  tent, 
suspected  that  something  was  wrong.  So  he  mingled 
among  the  men,  and  applied  many  harsh  epithets  to 
Jackson.  Thinking  to  make  Davis  useful  to  them, 
the  conspirators  told  him  their  plans,  which  he  made 
haste  to  lay  before  his  superior  officer.  Shortly  after- 
wards the  infantry  were  drawn  up  in  line,  and  the  ring- 
leaders in  the  conspiracy  arrested,  tried,  and  executed. 


After  the  war  the  Legislature  gave  Davis  a  horse, 
saddle,  and  bridle,  and  five  hundred  acres  of  land,  as 
a  reward  for  his  fidelity. 

Jackson  was  with  General  Wayne  in  his  Georgia 
campaign,  and  was  intrusted  by  him  with  many  haz- 
ardous duties.  When  Savannah  surrendered,  General 
Wayne  issued  an  order  in  which  he  said,  "  Lieutenant 
Colonel  Jackson,  in  consideration  of  his  severe  and 
fatiguing  service  in  the  advance,  is  to  receive  the  key  of 
Savannah,  and  is  allowed  to  enter  the  western  gate." 

In  1786,  Jackson  was  made  brigadier  general,  and  had 
command  of  the  forces  operating  against  the  Indians. 
Between  1788  and  1806  General  Jackson  held  almost 
every  high  office  within  the  gift  of  the  people  of  the 
State,  —  member  of  the  Legislature,  governor  when  only 
thirty-one  years  old,  member  of  the  first  Congress  held 
under  the  Federal  Co^titution,  member  of  the  State 
Constitutional  '  Convention,  presidential  elector,  and 
United  States  senator. 

With  General  Jackson  in  many  of  his  engagements 
was  General  Elijah  Clarke,  who  in  many  respects  was 
the  most  remarkable  soldier  that  Georgia  contributed  to 
the  War  for  Independence.  With  fairer  opportunities 
than  he  had,  he  would  have  made  a  great  commander. 
He  had  small  knowledge  of  tactics,  but  he  had  what 
is  better,  —  the  skill  to  take  advantage  of  quickly  passing 
events,  and  the  coolness  that  made  him  complete  master 
of  all  his  resources.  He  was  a  man  of  the  most  strik- 
ing characteristics,  and  he  came  out  of  the  war  with 
many  bitter  enemies  among  those  with  whom  he  came 
in  contact.  This  feeling  was  perpetuated  by  the  politi- 


89 

cal  campaigns  in  which  his  son,  John  Clarke,  took  part 
after  the  war.  A  trace  of  this  is  to  be  seen  in  the 
sketch  which  Governor  Gilmer  gives  to  Elijah  Clarke 
in  his  curious  book  entitled  "Georgians."  It  is  un- 
doubtedly true  that  Elijah  Clarke  was  ignorant  of  what 
is  called  book  knowledge,  but  he  was  not  much  worse 
off  in  this  respect  than  the  famous  Confederate  General 
Forrest,  who  is  thought  by  some  high  military  critics 
to  have  been  the  most  remarkable  commander  on  the 
Southern  side  in  the  civil  war.  Elijah  Clarke,  as  well 
as  General  Forrest,  had  something  that  served  them  a 
better  turn  than  a  mere  knowledge  of  books.  They 
had  a  thorough  knowledge  of  men,  and  a  quick  eye  for 
the  situations  that  follow  each  other  so  rapidly  in  a 
skirmish  or  battle. 

Elijah  Clarke  was  born  in  North  Carolina,  but  moved 
to  Georgia  in  1774.  He  was  among  the  first  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Upper  Georgia  to  take  up  the  cause  of 
American  independence ;  and  his  example,  for  he  was 
a  notable  man  even  in  private  life,  did  much  to  solidify 
and  strengthen  those  who  leaned  to  that  cause.  When 
the  British  troops  marched  from  the  coast  into  Upper 
Georgia,  Elijah  thought  the  time  had  come  to  take  his 
gun  from  the  rack  over  the  door,  and  make  at  least 
some  show  of  resistance.  His  courage,  and  the  firm- 
ness and  decision  of  his  character,  made  him  the  natural 
leader  of  those  of  his  neighbors  whose  sympathies  were 
with  the  Liberty  Boys  in  other  parts  of  the  State,  and 
he  soon  found  himself  a  commander  without  commission 
or  title.  He  cared  less  for  these  things  than  for  the 
principles  of  liberty  for  which  he  was  fighting. 


For  a  while  Elijah 
Clarke  and  his  followers 
fought  as  partisan  ran- 
gers, but  he  soon  drew 
around  him  a  compact 
and  disciplined  body  of 
men  who  were  ready  to 
go  wherever  he  might 
lead  them.  He  did  not 
confine  his  efforts  to  his 
new  neighborhood.  We 
hear  of  him  with  Howe's 
ill-fated  expedition  against 
East  Florida,  where,  at 
Alligator  Creek,  he  was 
asked  to  perform  the  im- 
possible feat  of  storming 
with  a  troop  of  horse  a 
camp  intrenched  behind 
logs  and  brushwood.  He 
was  no  doubt  amazed  at 
the  stupidity  of  General 
Howe  in  issuing  such  an 


91 

order,  but  he  attempted  to  carry  it  out  with  his  usual 
courage.  He  did  succeed  in  floundering  over  the  logs 
with  his  troops,  but  he  came  to  a  ditch  that  was  too 
wide  for  his  horses  to  leap,  and  too  deep  to  be  ridden 
through.  At  this  moment  he  and  his  men  were  saluted 
with  a  heavy  fire  from  the  enemy,  and  they  were  com- 
pelled to  retire  in  confusion.  In  this  attempt  Elijah 
Clarke  was  shot  through  the  thigh.  Later  he  was  in 
South  Carolina,  at  Blackstocks,  and  at  The  Cowpens. 

In  some  quarters  an  effort  has  been  made  to  blacken 
the  reputation  of  General  Clarke  by  comparing  his 
treatment  of  the  Tories  with  the  mild  and  humane 
policy  pursued  by  Francis  Marion.  There  was,  indeed, 
some  misunderstanding  between  the  two  men  in  regard 
to  the  methods  that  might  be  adopted.  The  policy  of 
Marion  was  undoubtedly  the  correct  one,  so  far  as 
South  Carolina  was  concerned ;  but  if  the  Tories  in 
that  Province  had  been  guilty  of  the  crimes  committed 
by  their  brethren  in  Wilkes  and  the  surrounding  region, 
General  Marion's  policy  would  not  have  been  very  differ- 
ent from  that  of  General  Clarke.  The  Tories  with  whom 
Clarke  was  familiar  were  guilty  of  murder,  rapine, 
pillage,  and  incendiarism.  The  Tories  in  South  Caro- 
lina were-  kept  under  by  the  presence  of  Marion  and 
his  men.  Clarke  went  wherever  his  services  were 
needed ;  and  during  his  absence,  the  Tories  of  the 
Broad  River  region  were  free  to  commit  every  excess. 
Marion  refused  to  leave  the  region  where  he  made  his 
name  famous,  and  thus  kept  the  Tories  in  constant  fear 
and  dread. 

Who  shall   say   that    Marion    would   not   have  been 


92 

as  ready  to  exterminate  the  Tories  as  Clarke  was,  or 
that  Clarke  would  not  have  been  as  humane  as  Marion, 
if  each  of  these  distinguished  patriots  had  been  in  the 
other's  place  ? 

At  the  battle  of  Kettle  Creek,  in  what  is  now  Wilkes 
County,  Elijah  Clarke  distinguished  himself  by  his 
readiness  and  skill  as  a  commander.  The  Americans 
under  Colonel  Pickens  were  in  pursuit  of  the  British 
under  Colonel  Boyd.  Their  line  of  march  was  the 
order  of  battle,  and  following  the  vanguard  came  the 
right  and  left  wings.  The  left  wing  was  commanded 
by  Elijah  Clarke.  The  center  was  led  by  Colonel 
Pickens,  who  was  in  command  of  the  expedition. 
Colonel  Boyd,  the  British  commander,  appeared  to  be 
unconscious  of  pursuit.  He  had  halted  on  a  farm  on 
the  north  side  of  Kettle  Creek.  His  horses  were  left  to 
forage  on  the  young  cane  that  grew  on  the  edge  of  the 
swamp ;  and  his  men  were  slaying  cattle  and  parching 
corn,  preparing  for  a  feast  after  their  short  rations. 
The  British  encampment  was  formed  near  the  creek, 
on  a  piece  of  open  ground  flanked  on  two  sides  by  a 
canebrake.  Colonel  Boyd  was  in  utter  ignorance  of 
the  approach  of  the  Americans,  who  advanced  at  once 
to  the  attack.  The  British  colonel  formed  his  line  in 
the  rear  of  his  encampment,  and  there  received  the 
assault.  The  battle  was  hotly  contested  for  more  than 
an  hour,  and  then  the  Tories  retreated  through  the 
swamp. 

Elijah  Clarke,  seeing  a  piece  of  rising  ground  on  the 
farther  side  of  the  creek,  on  which  he  suspected  the 
Loyalists  would  try  to  form,  ordered  the  left  wing  to 


93 

follow  him,  and  was  about  to  cross  the  stream  when  his 
horse  was  shot  under  him.  Mounting  another,  he  soon 
crossed  the  creek,  followed  by  not  more  than  a  fourth 
of  his  division.  There  had  been  some  mistake  in  send- 
ing the  order  along  the  line.  Clarke  gained  the  hill 
that  had  attracted  his  eye  just  in  time  to  attack  Major 
Spurgen,  a  brave  British  officer,  who  was  forming  his 
command.  The  firing  attracted  the  notice  of  the  rest 
of  Clarke's  division,  and  they  soon  joined  their  leader. 
Pickens  and  Dooly  also  pressed  through  the  swamp, 
and  the  battle  was  renewed  with  great  vigor.  For  a 
while  the  result  was  in  doubt,  but  at  the  end  the  Ameri- 
cans held  the  hill.  The  Tories  fled  in  all  directions, 
leaving  seventy  dead  on  the  field,  and  seventy-five 
wounded  and  captured.  Of  the  Americans,  nine  were 
slain,  and  twenty-three  wounded.  To  Elijah  Clarke 
must  be  given  the  credit  for  this  victory,  which,  coming 
at  the  time  it  did,  revived  the  hopes  and  courage  of  the 
Liberty  Boys  in  all  parts  of  the  country. 

The  Tories,  on  the  other  hand,  were  so  depressed  by 
it,  that  many  of  them  left  that  part  of  the  State,  and 
those  who  remained  became  comparatively  quiet.  The 
situation  was  so  encouraging,  that  many  of  the  people 
of  Georgia,  who  had  been  driven  from  their  homes  by 
the  cruelty  of  the  Tories,  returned  with  their  families. 
They  were  not  long  left  in  peace,  however.  The  Brit- 
ish and  the  Tories  had  their  active  agents  among  the 
Creeks  and  Cherokees,  urging  these  tribes  to  take  up 
arms  and  attack  the  Americans.  In  view  of  this,  Clarke 
was  sent  to  guard  the  frontier  forts.  Then  the  Tories 
again  began  to  pillage  and  devastate  the  Broad  River 


94 

region.  Some  of  the  crimes  they  committed  would 
have  disgraced  savages.  Clarke's  house  was  burned, 
and  his  family  ordered  to  leave  the  State.  Mrs.  Clarke 
and  her  two  daughters  started  on  their  perilous  journey 
with  nothing  but  a  small  pony  of  little  value,  and  even 
this  was  taken  from  them  before  they  had  gone  very 
far.  This  only  served  to  renew  the  activity  of  Clarke 
in  behalf  of  the  American  cause.  He  defeated  the 
Tories  wherever  he  met  them ;  and  if  he  gave  them  no 
quarter,  it  was  because  they  had  shown  no  mercy  to 
the  Americans.  The  savage  character  of  the  warfare 
waged  by  the  Tories  against  men,  women,  and  children, 
must  ever  stand  as  an  explanation  and  as  an  excuse  for 
the  fierce  spirit  displayed  by  Clarke  and  the  Americans 
who  lived  in  the  Broad  River  region. 

In  the  battle  near  Musgrove's  Mill,  Clarke  defeated 
the  British,  killing  sixty-three  men,  and  wounding  and 
capturing  one  hundred.  During  the  battle  he  was  twice 
severely  wounded  on  the  head  and  neck ;  and  once  he 
was  surrounded  by  the  enemy,  captured,  and  placed  in 
charge  of  two  men.  One  of  these  he  knocked  down  with 
a  blow  of  his  fist,  and  the  other  fled.  At  one  time,  act- 
ing without  orders,  he  was  near  taking  Augusta,  and  was 
only  prevented  by  the  desire  of  his  men  to  see  their  fami- 
lies. After  this  he  returned  to  Wilkes  County,  where  he 
was  compelled  to  take  under  his  protection  nearly  four 
hundred  women  and  children  who  had  been  driven  from 
their  homes  by  the  savage  Tories.  He  resolved  to  carry 
these  to  a  place  of  safety,  and,  with  a  sufficient  guard, 
set  out  for  Kentucky.  Cornwallis,  hearing  of  this  move- 
ment, and  taking  for  granted  that  it  was  a  retreat,  sent 


95 

one  hundred  men  under  Captain  Ferguson  to  cut  Clarke 
off,  the  supposition  being  that  the  great  partisan  fightei 
would  march  through  South  Carolina,  but  he  had  re- 
crossed  the  mountains  in  the  Piedmont  region.  Hear- 
ing of  this  movement,  Clarke  detached  Major  Chandler 
and  Captain  Johnston  with  thirty  men  to  take  part  in 
the  operations  against  Ferguson.  Thus  it  was  the  pur- 
suit of  Clarke  that  brought  on  the  memorable  battle  of 
Kings  Mountain,  which  resulted  in  a  great  victory  for 
the  cause  of  American  independence ;  and  although 
Clarke  was  not  there  in  person,  his  heroic  spirit  animated 
the  brave  men  who  won  the  day. 

He  was  the  first  to  teach  the  militia  to  stand  against 
the  bayonets  of  the  British ;  and  at  Blackstocks,  in  South 
Carolina,  at  the  head  of  his  Wilkes  riflemen,  he  charged 
and  drove  the  British  light  infantry  in  an  open  field,  — 
a  movement  that  turned  the  enemy's  right  flank,  and 
insured  the  victory  of  the  Americans.  At  the  siege  of 
Augusta,  Clarke  had  anticipated  the  movement  of 
Colonel  "  Light  Horse  Harry  "  Lee,  and  had  confined 
the  British  garrison  to  their  works  for  weeks  before 
Colonel  Lee's  arrival. 

At  the  close  of  the  Revolution,  Clarke  led  the  move- 
ment against  the  Indians.  He  defeated  the  Creeks  in 
the  battle  of  Jacks  Creek.  After  peace  was  declared, 
Clarke,  who  had  been  made  a  general  by  a  grateful 
State,  settled  on  lands  that  had  been  reserved  to  the 
Indians.  For  this  he  has  been  criticised  very  severely ; 
but  it  is  curious  that  the  policy  for  which  he  was 
attacked,  shortly  afterwards  became  the  policy  of  the 
whole  people.  The  States  and  the  United  States  have 


96 

made  treaties  with  the  Indians,  only  to  break  them. 
Having  personal  knowledge  of  the  Indians,  and  having 
been  made  the  victim  of  some  of  their  raids,  he  had  no 
respect  for  them  or  for  their  rights.  To  this  view  the 
whole  country  afterwards  came,  and  the  red  men  disap- 
peared before  it. 

It  will  be  well  to  bear  in  mind,  that,  whatever  failings 
he  may  have  had,  there  was  not  a  more  heroic  figure  in 
the  Revolution  than  General  Elijah  Clarke. 


A   WAR    OF    EXTERMINATION 


SOME  of  the  bar- 
barous features 
of  the  Revolutionary  War  in 
Georgia  have  been  briefly  noted.  History  has  turned 
her  eyes  away  from  the  more  horrible  details;  but 
by  reading  between  the  lines,  and  taking  advantage 
of  the  hints  and  suggestions,  it  is  not  hard  to  get 
a  tolerably  fair  idea  of  the  methods  that  were  pur- 
sued on  both  sides.  Even  Colonel  Charles  C.  Jones, 
jim.,  whose  "  History  of  Georgia"  is  thus  far  the  most 
complete  that  has  been  written,  touches  lightly  on  the 
cruelties  practiced  in  the  efforts  of  the  British  and 


STO.  OF  GA.  —  7 


97 


98 

Tories  to  wrest  Upper  Georgia  from  the  control  of  the 
Americans.  There  are  matters  that  History  cannot 
deal  with  and  maintain  her  dignity. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  British  and  the  Tories 
began  their  cruelties  without  considering  the  results  to 
which  their  acts  would  lead.  It  is  an  easy  matter  at 
this  late  day  to  see  how  naturally  the  war,  in  the  region 
tributary  to  Augusta,  degenerated  into  a  series  of  crimes 
and  barbarities  foul  enough  to  cause  History  to  hold 
her  hands  before  her  eyes.  When  Colonel  Campbell, 
assisted  by  Colonel  Brown,  advanced  to  attack  Augusta, 
it  was  the  only  American  post  that  had  not  surrendered 
to  the  King's  men,  and  its  capture  would  complete  the 
subjugation  of  Georgia  from  a  military  point  of  view. 
The  city  fell  without  a  struggle,  and  the  American 
forces  retreated  across  the  river.  It  was  natural  that 
the  British,  and  the  Tories  who  were  acting  with  them, 
should  take  advantage  of  this  victory  to  bring  the  whole 
region  above  and  around  Augusta  to  terms.  The  sooner 
this  was  done,  the  sooner  would  all  Georgia  be  restored 
to  her  relations  with  his  Majesty  George  III.  No  time 
was  to  be  lost.  Therefore  Colonel  Campbell,  the  Brit- 
ish commander,  tarried  in  Augusta  but  a  few  days.  He 
left  Colonel  Brown  in  charge,  and  marched  in  the  direc- 
tion of  Wilkes  County.  Those  of  the  inhabitants  who 
had  Tory  sympathies  were  to  be  encouraged ;  but  those 
who  were  disaffected  were  to  be  dealt  with  summarily, 
so  as  to  put  an  end,  at  once  and  forever,  to  the  dis- 
loyalty that  had  been  active  in  that  region.  This  plan 
was  carried  out  promptly  and  violently.  The  severest 
punishment  was  the  portion  of  those  who  refused  to 


99 

take  the  oath  of  allegiance.  Plunder  and  the  torch  were 
the  portions  of  those  who  chanced  to  be  away  from 
home,  fighting  for  their  country.  Their  helpless  wives 
and  children  were  left  homeless,  and  destitute  of  provi- 
sions. Fortunately  a  great  many  stanch  Liberty  Boys 
had  carried  their  families,  their  household  effects,  and 
their  cattle,  into  South  Carolina  as  soon  as  they  heard 
of  the  fall  of  Augusta ;  but  many  had  remained  at 
home,  and  the  sufferings  of  these  were  severe. 

Another  explanation  of  the  extreme  cruelty  with 
which  the  war  in  Upper  Georgia  was  waged  after  the 
fall  of  Augusta,  was  the  fact  that  Colonel  Brown,  who 
had  been  left  in  command  by  Colonel  Campbell,  had 
some  old  scores  to  settle.  At  the  very  beginning  of 
the  struggle  he  had  been  arrested  in  Augusta  by  some 
of  the  Liberty  Boys,  tarred  and  feathered,  and  paraded 
through  the  public  streets,  on  account  of  his  outspoken 
loyalty  to  the  King.  Still  another  reason  was  the  fact 
that  Daniel  McGirth,  who  had  been  maltreated  by  an 
American  officer,  was  among  the  officers  who  had  ac- 
companied Colonel  Brown.  McGirth  held  every  Ameri- 
can responsible  for  the  treatment  he  had  received,  and 
he  spared  few  that  fell  into  his  hands.  Thus,  between 
the  anxiety  of  the  British  to  conquer  Georgia  com- 
pletely, and  the  desires  of  Brown  and  McGirth  to 
revenge  themselves,  the  Americans  in  Upper  Georgia 
were  made  the  victims  of  the  most  inhuman  barbarities. 

The  Americans  under  Elijah  Clarke  lost  no  time  in 
retaliating,  and  thus  was  begun  a  contest  that  may  be 
aptly  described  as  a  war  of  extermination.  Clarke  was 
enabled  to  defeat  the  British  and  the  Tories  wherever 


IOO 

they  opposed  him  on  anything  like  equal  terms,  and 
this  fact  added  to  the  rigor  with  which  they  treated  the 
Americans  who  were  so  unfortunate  as  to  fall  into  their 
hands.  Shortly  after  the  affair  at  Musgrove's  Mill,  in 
which  Clarke  defeated  the  British  and  the  Tories,  Lord 
Cornwallis  addressed  a  circular  letter  to  the  officers 
Commanding  the  advanced  posts.  He  declared,  "  The 
inhabitants  of  the  Provinces  who  have  subscribed  to 
and  taken  part  in  this  revolt  shall  be  punished  with 
the  utmost  rigor ;  and  also  those  who  will  not  turn  out 
shall  be  imprisoned,  and  their  whole  property  taken 
from  them  or  destroyed.  I  have  ordered,"  he  goes  on 
to  say,  "  in  the  most  positive  manner,  that  every  militia- 
man who  has  borne  arms  with  us,  and  afterwards 
joined  the  enemy,  shall  be  immediately  hanged.  I 
desire  you  will  take  the  most  vigorous  measures  to 
punish  the  rebels  in  the  district  in  which  you  command, 
and  that  you  obey  in  the  strictest  manner  the  directions 
I  have  given  in  this  letter  relative  to  the  inhabitants  in 
this  country." 

Here  was  authority  broad  enough  to  cover  every 
crime  that  the  British  and  the  Tories  might  see  fit 
to  commit,  and  they  stretched  it  to  the  utmost  limit. 
They  burned  houses  and  destroyed  property.  They 
insulted  and  inhumanly  treated  women  and  children. 
They  hanged  the  innocent.  They  went  about  the  coun- 
try practicing  every  barbarity  that  their  savage  and 
bloodthirsty  natures  could  suggest.  It  was  no  wonder 
that  the  Americans  retaliated  whenever  they  had  the 
opportunity.  It  was  no  wonder  that  Elijah  Clarke,  nat- 
urally independent  and  irritable,  should  fail  to  see  the 


101 

justice  or  necessity  of  treating  the  Tories  he  captured 
as  prisoners  of  war. 

The  situation  of  the  Americans  became  so  serious 
that  Clarke  determined  to  strike  a  heavy  blow.  He 
returned  from  Carolina  to  Wilkes  County  in  September, 
1780,  and  in  two  days  succeeded  in  placing  in  the  field 
three  hundred  and  fifty  men.  With  this  force,  strength- 
ened by  eighty  men  recruited  in  Carolina,  he  boldly 
marched  on  Augusta.  The  movement  was  so  unex- 
pected, that,  but  for  the  fact  that  the  advance  guard 
fell  in  with  an  Indian  camp  which  it  was  compelled  to 
attack,  Colonel  Brown  would  have  been  taken  com- 
pletely by  surprise.  But  the  retreating  Indians  gave 
him  notice,  and  he  took  refuge  with  his  command  in  a 
strong  building  known  as  the  White  House.  The  siege 
began  on  the  I4th.  By  daylight  on  the  i6th  Clarke 
had  succeeded  in  cutting  the  garrison  off  from  its  water 
supply.  The  sufferings  of  the  men,  especially  the 
wounded,  became  most  intense.  The  Americans  could 
hear  their  cries  for  water  and  for  medical  aid.  Brown 
appears  to  have  been  as  brave  as  he  was  cruel.  Though 
he  was  shot  through  both  thighs,  he  remained  at  the 
head  of  his  men  ;  and  his  great  courage  sustained  the 
spirits  of  his  followers.  Clarke  summoned  him  to  sur- 
render on  the  i/th.  He  not  only  refused,  but  warned 
the  American  commander  that  the  demonstration  he 
was  making  against  the  King's  men  would  bring  de- 
struction to  the  western  part  of  Georgia. 

Meanwhile  some  of  Clarke's  men  had  gone  to  visit 
their  families,  and  others  were  more  interested  in  secur- 
ing plunder  than  in  forwarding  the  cause  of  independ- 


IO2 

ence.  Colonel  Brown,  as  soon  as  he  heard  of  the 
approach  of  the  Americans,  had  sent  several  messen- 
gers by  different  routes  to  inform  Colonel  Cruger  of 
the  state  of  affairs.  Cruger,  who  was  in  Carolina  at 
Ninety-six,  promptly  set  his  men  in  motion,  and  on 
the  morning  of  the  i8th  appeared  on  the  bank  of  the 
Savannah,  opposite  Augusta.  Under  the  circumstances, 
Clarke  was  compelled  to  retreat.  He  had  suffered  a 
loss  of  sixty,  killed  and  wounded.  In  retreating,  he 
was  compelled  to  leave  twenty-nine  of  his  wounded 
men  behind.  Among  these  was  Captain  Ashby,  one 
of  the  bravest  and  most  humane  of  the  officers  of  the 
American  army.  This  unfortunate  officer  and  the  men 
with  him  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  Colonel 
Brown  was  so  severely  wounded  that  he  was  unable 
to  move  about ;  so  he  ordered  Captain  Ashby  and 
twelve  of  the  wounded  prisoners  to  be  hanged  on  the 
staircase  of  the  White  House,  where  he  might  see  their 
sufferings  and  gloat  over  their  agonies.  These  men 
were  cruelly  strangled  before  Brown's  eyes.  But  their 
fate  was  a  happy  one  compared  with  that  of  their 
wounded  companions.  Those  men  were  turned  over 
to  the  red  savages,  who  were  the  allies  of  the  British. 
The  Indians  received  the  prisoners  with  howls  of  de- 
light, and  began  at  once  to  torture  them  in  every  con- 
ceivable way.  They  formed  a  circle,  and  marched 
around  the  Americans,  cutting  and  slashing  them  with 
their  knives.  The  end  of  the  unfortunates  was  most 
horrible.  They  were  ripped  with  knives,  scalped,  and 
then  burned.  No  doubt,  Colonel  Brown  enjoyed  this 
scene  more  thoroughly  than  he  did  the  tame  and 


IDS 

commonplace  spectacle  of  strangling  Captain  Ashby 
and  his  companions. 

Before  raising  the  siege,  Elijah  Clarke  paroled  the  offi- 
cers and  men  whom  he  had  captured, — fifty-six  men,  all 
told.  This  fact  is  mentioned  to  show  that  the  Georgia 
militia  had  not  then  begun  those  acts  of  retaliation 
which  have  attracted  the  notice  of  historians.  They 
had  had,  as  we  know,  abundant  provocation ;  but  after 
the  horrible  crimes  perpetrated  by  Brown  reached  their 
ears,  they  threw  off  all  restraint.  Self-preservation  is 
the  first  law  of  nature,  and  the  men  who  acted  with 
Elijah  Clarke  thought  that  the  best  way  to  preserve  the 
lives  of  themselves  and  their  families  was  to  destroy  the 
Tories  as  fast  as  they  caught  them.  The  fact  is  chron- 
icled by  Colonel  Jones,  and  it  is  worth  noting,  that  the 
officers  and  men  paroled  by  Clarke,  in  utter  disregard 
of  their  obligations,  took  up  their  arms  as  soon  as  the 
Americans  had  departed.  The  probability  is  that  they 
were  driven  to  this  by  the  commands  of  Brown. 

It  is  well  known,  that,  as  soon  as  Clarke  and  his 
men  had  retreated,  Colonel  Brown  sent  detachments  of 
troops  in  all  directions,  with  orders  to  arrest  all  persons 
who  had  taken  part  in  the  siege,  or  who  had  sympathized 
with  the  efforts  of  the  Americans  to  recapture  Augusta. 
Under  this  sweeping  order,  men  of  all  ages  and  condi- 
tions were  dragged  from  their  homes  and  thrown  into 
prison.  Those  who  were  suspected  of  taking  part  in 
the  siege,  or  of  belonging  to  Clarke's  command,  were 
seized  and  hanged  out  of  hand.  Old  men,  no  longer 
able  to  bear  arms,  were  imprisoned  for  welcoming  the 
return  of  members  of  their  families  who  had  fought  on 


104 

the  American  side.  One  instance  out  of  many  that 
might  be  cited  was  the  arrest  of  the  father  of  Captains 
Samuel  and  James  Alexander.  In  the  seventy-eighth 


year  of  his  age,  this  old  man  was  arrested  at  his  home, 
tied  to  the  tail  of  a  cart,  and  dragged  forty  miles  in  two 
days.  When  caught  leaning  against  the  cart  to  rest  his 
feeble  limbs,  he  was  whipped  by  the  driver.  It  was  at 


this  time  that  in  the  region  round  about  Augusta  the 
hopes  of  the  patriots  grew  very  faint.  The  women  and 
children  assembled,  and  begged  Elijah  Clarke  to  take 
them  out  of  the  country ;  and  in  response  to  the  ap- 
peals of  these  defenseless  ones,  he  undertook  the  move- 
ment that  culminated  in  the  glorious  victory  of  Kings 
Mountain. 

The  winter  of  1780  was  the  darkest  hour  of  the  Rev- 
olution in  Upper  Georgia.  There  was  no  trade.  Farm- 
ing was  at  a  low  ebb.  The  schoolhouses  were  closed. 
Many  of  the  patriots  had  carried  off  their  families. 
Many  had  gone  with  Elijah  Clarke  to  Kentucky.  The 
patriots  had  betaken  themselves  to  South  Carolina, 
though  the  services  they  rendered  there  have  been 
slurred  over  by  the  historians  of  that  State. 

When  General  Greene  began  his  Southern  campaign, 
and  gradually  rid  South  Carolina  of  the  British  and  the 
Tory  element,  the  patriots  of  Upper  Georgia  ventured 
to  return  to  their  homes.  Captain  McCall,  who  was 
among  them,  says,  in  his  history,  that  they  returned 
in  parties  of  ten  and  twelve,  so  as  to  attract  as  little 
attention  as  possible.  They  appointed  Dennis's  Mill,  on 
Little  River,  as  a  place  of  meeting.  "  When  these  small 
parties  entered  the  settlements  where  they  had  formerly 
lived,"  says  Captain  McCall,  "general  devastation  was 
presented  to  view ;  their  aged  fathers  and  their  youth- 
ful brothers  had  been  murdered ;  their  decrepit  grand- 
fathers were  incarcerated  in  prisons  where  most  of  them 
had  been  suffered  to  perish  in  filth,  famine,  or  disease ; 
and  their  mothers,  wives,  sisters,  and  young  children 
had  been  robbed,  insulted,  and  abused,  and  were  found 


1 06 

by  them  in  temporary  huts  more  resembling  a  savage 
camp  than  a  civilized  habitation."  Though  Captain 
McCall  was  an  eyewitness  of  some  of  the  scenes  he 
describes,  the  picture  he  draws  might  seem  to  be  too 
highly  colored  were  it  not  supplemented  by  a  great 
mass  of  evidence.  One  more  instance  out  of  many  may 
be  given.  In  a  skirmish  with  the  Americans  under 
Colonel  Harden,  Brown  captured  several  prisoners. 
Among  them  was  a  youth  only  seventeen  years  old 
named  Rannal  McKay,  the  son  of  a  widow  who  was  a 
refugee  from  Darien.  Being  told  that  her  son  was  a 
prisoner  in  the  hands  of  Brown,  Widow  McKay,  pro- 
viding herself  with  some  refreshments  that  she  thought 
might  suit  the  taste  of  the  British  commander,  went  to 
Brown's  headquarters,  and  begged  that  her  son  might 
be  set  free.  The  cruel  wretch  accepted  the  present  she 
had  brought  him,  but  refused  even  to  let  her  see  her 
son,  and  caused  the  sentinels  to  put  her  out  of  the  camp 
by  force.  Next  day  young  McKay  and  four  other  pris- 
oners were  taken  out  of  the  rail  pen  in  which  they  had 
been  confined.  By  Brown's  order  they  were  hanged 
upon  a  gallows  until  they  were  nearly  strangled.  They 
were  then  cut  down  and  turned  over  to  the  tender 
mercies  of  the  Indians,  by  whom  they  were  mutilated, 
scalped,  and  finally  murdered  in  the  most  savage 
manner. 

The  cruelty  of  Colonel  Brown  and  the  Tories  acting 
under  him  was  so  unbearable  that  the  patriots  of  that 
region  felt  that  their  existence  depended  on  the  capture 
of  Augusta.  They  decided  on  an  aggressive  movement 
when  they  met  again  at  Dennis's  Mill,  on  Little  River. 


Colonel  Clarke,  who  was  suffering  from  the  results  of 
smallpox,  was  too  feeble  to  lead  them.  His  place  was 
taken  for  the  time  by  Lieutenant  Colonel  Micajah  Wil- 
liamson;  and  on  the  i6th  of  April,  1781,  the  Americans 
moved  to  the  vicinity  of  Augusta.  They  were  there 
reenforced  by  a  detachment  from  southern  Georgia 
under  Colonel  Baker,  and  by  a  number  of  recruits  from 
Burke  County.  A.  few  days  afterwards  they  were 
joined  by  some  Carolina  militiamen  under  Colonel 
Hammond  and  Major  Jackson. 

With  this  force,  Colonel  Williamson  took  up  a  posi- 
tion twelve  hundred  yards  from  the  British  works,  and 
fortified  his  camp.  The  Americans  were  compelled  to 
wait  nearly  a  month  for  the  aid  they  expected  from 
General  Greene.-  The  militia,  worn  out  with  waiting 
for  the  reinforcements,  were  about  to  withdraw  from 
the  camp  in  despair,  when  Jackson,  that  truly  great 
Georgian,  made  them  an  address  full  of  the  most  pas- 
sionate and  patriotic  eloquence,  and  this  appeal  changed 
their  purpose.  Jackson's  voice  was  afterwards  heard  in 
the  halls  of  Congress ;  but  we  may  be  sure  that  he  was 
never  more  in  earnest  or  more  truly  eloquent  than  when 
he  pleaded  with  the  faint-hearted  Americans  to  stand  to 
their  cause  and  their  arms.  Jackson's  address  revived 
their  courage;  and  when,  on  the  I5th  of  May,  Elijah 
Clarke  rode  into  camp,  restored  to  health  and  accom- 
panied by  one  hundred  fresh  recruits,  the  confidence  of 
the  militiamen  was  fully  renewed. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  General  Pickens  and  "  Light 
Horse  Harry  "  Lee  (the  father  of  General  Robert  E. 
Lee)  were  ordered  by  General  Greene  to  march  on 


io8 

Augusta  and  capture  that  post.  When  Lee  reached 
the  neighborhood  of  Augusta,  he  learned,  from  a  party 
of  light  horse  which  he  had  sent  on  ahead  to  collect 
prisoners  and  gain  information,  that  the  annual  royal 
present-  intended  for  the  Indians  had  arrived  at  Fort 
Galphin,  some  distance  below  Augusta.  The  present 
comprised  blankets,  liquor,  salt,  small  arms,  powder, 
and  ball.  There  was  a  great  lack  of  these  articles,  in 
the  American  camp,  and  Lee  resolved  to  capture  them. 
The  supplies  were  so  valuable,  that  Brown,  the  British 
commander,  had  sent  two  companies  from  Augusta  to 
garrison  Fort  Galphin.  This  was  the  situation  when 
"Light  Horse  Harry"  arrived  on  the  ground.  The 
British  in  Augusta  had  not  yet  discovered  his  approach, 
and  promptness  was  necessary.  Leaving  Eaton's  bat- 
talion, the  artillery,  and  the  footsore  men  of  the  legion, 
to  follow  more  slowly,  Lee  mounted  a  detachment  of 
infantry  behind  his  dragoons,  and  made  a  forced  march 
to  Fort  Galphin. 

This  point  he  reached  on  the  2ist  of  May,  1781. 
The  weather  was  extremely  hot,  and  for  miles  the 
troopers  and  their  horses  had  been  unable  to  find  a 
drop  of  water :  consequently  neither  the  men  nor  the 
animals  were  in  a  condition  to  make  the  attack  when 
the  command  was  brought  to  a  halt  under  the  pines 
that  skirted  the  field  surrounding  the  fort.  The  British 
within  the  fort  were  resting  quietly,  and  were  not  aware 
that  an  enemy  was  at  hand.  A  prompt  and  decisive 
movement  was  necessary ;  and  when  his  men  and 
horses  had  rested  a  little  while,  Lee  dismounted  the 
militiamen  he  had  brought  with  him,  and  ordered  them 


IOQ 

to  make  a  demonstration  against  the  fort  on  the  side 
opposite  the  position  he  had  taken.  This  famous  com- 
mander reasoned,  that,  as  soon  as  the  militiamen  ap- 
peared before  the  fort,  the  garrison  would  sally  from 
the  stockade.  The  militia  would  retreat,  the  garrison 
pursuing,  and  he  would  seize  upon  that  moment  to 
assault  and  capture  the  post  left  defenseless.  To  carry 
out  this  plan,  Captain  Rudolph  (who  was  supposed  to 
be  Marshal  Ney  in  disguise),  with  a  detachment  of 
picked  infantry,  was  held  in  readiness  to  rush  upon 
the  fort ;  while  the  rest  of  the  troops,  supported  by  the 
dragoons,  were  placed  where  they  could  shield  the 
militia  from  the  pursuit  of  the  British. 

The  affair  took  place  just  as  Lee  had  foreseen.  The 
garrison  sallied  out  to  the  attack.  The  militia,  before 
making  a  show  of  resistance,  began  a  retreat.  The 
garrison  gave  pursuit.  Captain  Rudolph  dashed  across 
the  field,  and  captured  the  fort  without  any  trouble. 
The  end  came,  when  the  militia  rallied,  and  the  foot 
soldiers  and  dragoons  closed  around  the  soldiers  of  the 
garrison.  During  the-  engagement  the  Americans  lost 
one  man  from  sunstroke.  The  enemy  lost  only  three 
or  four  men.  The  rest,  together  with  the  valuable 
stores  in  the  stockade,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
patriots. 

Following  this  successful  affair,  which  was  of  more 
importance  than  it  seems  now  to  be,  Lee  formed  a 
junction  with  General  Pickens ;  and  these  two  then 
joined  their  forces  with  those  of  Clarke,  who  com- 
manded the  Georgia  militia,  and  the  siege  of  Augusta 
began.  The  first  movement  was  the  capture  of  Fort 


1 10 

Grierson,  so  called  in  honor  of  the  man  who  com- 
manded its  garrison.  Grierson,  hard  pressed,  threw 
open  the  gates  of  the  fort,  and  endeavored  to  escape. 
Thirty  of  his  men  were  killed,  and  forty-five  wounded 
and  captured.  Grierson  was  made  a  prisoner,  but  was 
killed  by  a  Georgia  rifleman.  He  was  as  cruel  and 
vindictive  as  Brown  himself.  He  was  a  monster  who 
had  made  himself  odious  to  the  followers  of  Clarke. 
In  his  history,  Captain  McCall  strongly  hints  that 
Grierson  was  shot  by  one  of  the  sons  of  the  aged 
Mr.  Alexander,  who  had  been  made  prisoner  and 
dragged  to  Augusta  tied  to  the  tail  of  a  cart.  A 
reward  was  offered  for  information  that  would  lead 
to  the  arrest  of  the  man  who  shot  Grierson,  but  the 
reward  was  never  claimed.  The  whole  army  probably 
knew  who  had  fired  the  fatal  shot,  and  no  doubt  the 
commanders  knew,  but  their  knowledge  was  not  official. 
No  further  notice  was  taken  of  the  matter. 

The  capture  of  Fort  Grierson  cheered  the  hearts  of 
the  besiegers,  and  gave  them  renewed  courage.  Fort 
Cornwallis  was  next  invested.  •  This  stronghold  was 
commanded  by  Colonel  Brown  himself,  who  was  as  bold 
as  he  was  cruel.  He  was  mean  enough  to  expose  to 
the  American  fire  the  aged  Mr.  Alexander  and  other 
unfortunate  patriots  who  had  long  been  held  as  pris- 
oners. Captain  Samuel  Alexander  commanded  one  of 
the  companies  close  to  the  fort,  and  could  see  and 
recognize  his  venerable  father,  who  had  been  placed 
in  an  exposed  position  by  Brown. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  describe  all  the  events  of  the 
siege.  Brown  held  out  as  long  as  he  could,  but  was 


1 1 1 

finally  compelled  to  surrender.  On  the  5th  of  June, 
1781,  Brown,  with  three  hundred  men,  marched  out  of 
Fort  Cornwallis,  and  that  stronghold  was  immediately 
taken  possession  of  by  Captain  Rudolph.  A  strong 
guard  was  detailed  by  the  American  commanders,  to 
protect  Brown  from  the  just  anger  of  the  Georgia 
soldiers,  under  Clarke,  Williamson,  and  Jackson.  To 
insure  his  safety,  he  was  carried  to  the  quarters  of 
"Light  Horse  Harry"  Lee.  The  next  day  he  and  a 
few  of  his  officers  were  paroled  and  sent  down  the 
river  in  charge  of  a  party  of  infantry  instructed  to 
guard  him.  Ramsay,  in  his  "  History  of  the  Revolu- 
tion of  South  Carolina,"  says  that  Brown  was  recog- 
nized at  Silver  Bluff  by  Mrs.  McKay,  who  thus  ad- 
dressed him :  "  Colonel  Brown,  in  the  late  day  of  your 
prosperity  I  visited  your  camp,  and  on  my  knees  sup- 
plicated for  the  life  of  my  son ;  but  you  were  deaf  to 
my  entreaties.  You  hanged  him,  though  a  beardless 
youth,  before  my  face.  These  eyes  have  seen  him 
scalped  by  the  savages  under  your  immediate  command, 
and  for  no  better  reason  than  that  his  name  was 
McKay.  As  you  are  now  prisoner  to  the  leaders  of 
my  country,  for  the  present  I  lay  aside  all  thoughts 
of  revenge ;  but  When  you  resume  your  sword,  I  will 
go  five  hundred  miles  to  demand  satisfaction  at  the 
point  of  it,  for  the  murder  of  my  son."  The  probability 
is  that  Mrs.  McKay  used  no  such  stately  language. 
No  doubt  she  walked  up  to  Brown,  shook  her  finger 
in  his  face,  and  exclaimed,  "  You  miserable  villain ! 
I  can't  get  at  you  now  ;  but  if  the  day  ever  comes, 
I'll  flay  you  alive  for  the  murder  of  my  poor  boy." 


112 

The  fall  of  Augusta  v/as  received  with  rejoicings  by 
the  patriots  everywhere,  and  the  British  and  the  Tories 
were  correspondingly  depressed.  Men  who  had  been 
overawed  by  the  cruelty  of  the  Tories,  now  came  out 
boldly  for  the  cause  of  independence,  and  the  forces 
of  the  Americans  were  rapidly  strengthened.  Prepara- 
tions were  made  for  an  aggressive  campaign  in  Georgia 
by  the  Liberty  Boys ;  and  in  this  purpose  they  had  the 
active  aid  and  sympathy  of  General  Greene,  whose  skill 
and  ability  as  a  commander  were  not  greater  than  the 
wisdom  he  displayed  in  .dealing  with  the  people. 

In  January,  1782,  General  Greene  ordered  General 
Anthony  Wayne  to  take  charge  of  the  campaign  in 
Georgia.  At  the  same  time  he  wrote  a  letter  to  Gov- 
ernor Martin  that  displays  better  than  any  document 
now  extant  the  sagacity  and  conservatism  that  were  the 
basis  of  General  Greene's  character  and  the  source  of 
his  great  success  as  a  commander.  "  I  cannot  help 
recommending  to  your  Excellency,"  he  wrote  to  the 
governor  of  Georgia,  "to  open  a  door  for  the  disaffected 
in  your  State  to  come  in,  with  particular  exceptions.  It 
is  better  to  save  than  to  destroy,  especially  when  we 
are  obliged  to  expose  good  men  to  destroy  bad.  It  is 
always  dangerous  to  push  people  to  a  state  of  despera- 
tion ;  and  the  satisfaction  of  revenge  has  but  a  momen- 
tary existence,  and  is  commonly  succeeded  by  pity  and 
remorse.  The  practice  of  plundering,  which,  I  am  told, 
has  been  too  much  indulged  with  you,  is  very  destruc- 
tive to  the  morals  and  manners  of  the  people.  Habits 
and  dispositions  founded  on  this  practice  soon  grow 
obstinate,  and  are  difficult  to  restrain ;  indeed,  it  is  the 


H3 

most  direct  way  of  undermining  all  government,  and 
never  fails  to  bring  the  laws  into  contempt,  for  people 
will  not  stop  at  the  barriers  which  were  first  intended 
to  bound  them  after  having  tasted  the  sweets  of  pos- 
sessing property  by  the  easy  mode  of  plunder.  The 
preservation  of  morals  and  an  encouragement  to  honest 
industry  should  be  the  first  objects  of  government 
Plundering  is  the  destruction  of  both.  I  wish  the  cause 
of  liberty  may  never  be^  tarnished  with  inhumanity,  nor 
the  morals  of  people  bartered  in  exchange  for  wealth." 

This  letter  was  intended  to  put  an  end  to  the  war  of 
extermination  that  the  Tories  of  Upper  Georgia  had 
begun,  and  to  prevent  the  patriots  from  carrying  out 
their  plans  of  revenge.  The  letter  did  great  good.  It 
was  turned  over  to  the  Legislature  by  the  governor, 
and  thus  made  public ;  and  its  sentiments  were  taken 
to  heart  by  hundreds  who  had  suffered  the  most  cruel 
wrongs  at  "the  hands  of  the  Tories.  General  Greene's 
letter  was  also  made  the  basis  of  two  proclamations, 
both  issued  by  the  governor  after  conference  with  Gen- 
eral Wayne.  One  opened  the  door  to  disaffected 
Georgians  who  might  desire  to  return  to  the  ranks  of 
the  republicans,  and  the  other  was  addressed  to  the 
Hessian  troops  who  had  already  begun  to  sympathize 
with  the  Salzburghers  at  Ebenezer.  Stevens,  in  his 
"  History  of  Georgia,"  says  that  many  citizens  who  had 
been  compelled  from  various  reasons  to  seek  protection 
under  the  British  Government,  and  who  had  even  joined 
the  armies  of  the  enemy,  took  advantage  of  the  proc- 
lamation which  referred  to  them,  returned  to  their 
State  allegiance,  and  joined  the  forces  of  General 

STO.  OF  GA.  —  8 


Wayne,  where  they  proved  their  sincerity  by  making 
the  most  zealous  efforts  to  merit  the  pardon  and  protec- 
tion that  had  been  promised  them  by  the  governor. 

After  a  brilliant  campaign,  lasting  from  January  to 
July,  1782,  General  Wayne,  assisted  by  Elijah  Clarke, 
James  Jackson,  and  other  bold  spirits  who  had  never 
suffered  the  fires  of  liberty  to  go  out  in  Georgia,  cleared 
the  State  of  the  British.  Savannah  was  occupied  on 
the  nth  of  July,  the  keys  havjng  been  surrendered  to 
James  Jackson.  This  was  the  end  of  British  rule  in 
Georgia. 


A    NEGRO   PATRIOT. 


ALONG  with  the  emigrants 
from  North  Carolina  who 
first  settled  Wilkes  County, 
there  came  a  man  named 
Aycock.  He  brought 
with  him  a  mulatto  boy 
named  Austin.  This  boy 
passed  as  Aycock's  slave; 
but  when  the  conflict  be- 
tween the  Liberty  Boys 
and  the  Tories  in  that 
part  of  the  country  be- 
came desperate,  — •  when 
the  patriots  were  fighting 
for  their  lives  as  well 
as  for  the  liberties  of  their  country,  —  Aycock's  neigh- 
bors called  on  him  to  do  his  part.  According  to 
all  accounts,  Aycock  was  not  much  of  a  warrior.  His 
sympathies  were  with  his  liberty-loving  neighbors ;  but 
his  enthusiasm  did  not  invite  him  to  expose  himself  to 
the  fire  of  musketry.  It  is  said  that  he  joined  the 
neighbors,  and  strove  to  be  a  faithful  militiaman,  but 
he  was  in  a  state  of  constant  fear.  Governor  Gilmer 
says  of  Aycock,  that,  from  the  time  he  was  required  to 

"5 


n6 

fight,  he  saw  a  terrible  Tory  constantly  pointing  a  loaded 
gun  at  him.  His  alarm  finally  became  so  extreme  that 
he  offered  as  his  substitute  the  mulatto  boy  Austin,  who 
had  then  grown  to  be  a  stout  and  serviceable  lad. 

Objection  was  made  that  Austin  was  a  slave,  and 
could  not  therefore  be  received"  as  a  soldier.  At  this, 
Aycock  acknowledged  that  Austin  was  no  slave ;  that, 
although  he  was  a  mulatto,  he  had  been  born  free. 
This  fact  was  made  so  clear  to  the  patriots,  that  they 
willingly  received  Austin  as  a  soldier,  and  he  was  mus- 
tered into  the  service  under  the  name  of  Austin  Dabney. 
He  fought  under  Elijah  Clarke,  being  under  the  com- 
mand of  Colonel  John  Dooly,  who  was  afterwards  so 
foully  murdered  by  the  Tories.  Of  all  the  brave  men 
that  fought  under  the  heroic  Clarke,  there  was  none 
braver  than  Austin  Dabney,  none  that  did  better  ser- 
vice. 

He  was  in  the  battle  of  Kettle  Creek,  and  was  fore- 
most among  those  who  followed  Clarke.  Toward  the 
close  of  this  the  bloodiest  battle  fought  in  Georgia  be- 
tween the  patriots  and  Tories,  Austin  Dabney  was  shot 
through  the  thigh,  and  so  dangerously  wounded  that 
he  became  a  cripple  for  life.  He  was  taken  by  his 
comrades  to  the  house  of  a  Mr.  Harris,  where  he  was 
carefully  nursed  until  his  wound  healed.  He  was  not 
able  to  do  military  duty  after  that,  but  he  devoted  him- 
self to  Harris  and  his  family  more  faithfully  than  any 
slave  could  have  done.  It  may  be  said  of  him  that 
gratitude  became  the  ruling  passion  of  his  heart. 

After  the  Americans  had  won  their  independence, 
and  peace  with  it,  Austin  Dabney  became  prosperous. 


Being  a  quick-witted  man,  with  an  instinct  for  business, 
he  accumulated  property.  He  finally  moved  to  Madi- 
son County,  taking  with  him  his  benefactor  and  family, 
to  whose  wants  and  desires  he  continued  to  minister 
with  as  much  devotion  as  he  displayed  at  the  begin- 
ning of  his  service.  It  was  in  Madison  County  that 
Austin  Dabney  became  noted  for  his  fondness  for  horse- 
racing.  He  attended  all  the  races  in  the  neighboring 
counties.  He  was  the  owner  of  some  of  the  finest  race 
horses  to  be  found  in  the  country ;  and  such  was  his 
popularity,  that  he  always  found  prominent  men  to 
stand  for  him. 

Shortly  after  he  removed  to  Madison  County,  he  re- 
ceived a  pension  from  the  United  States  Government. 
He  sent  Harris's  oldest  son  to  school,  and  afterwards  to 
college.  When  the  young  man  graduated  from  Frank- 
lin College,  now  the  State  University,  Austin  Dabney 
supported  him  while  he  studied  law  with  Hon.  Stephen 
Upson  at  Lexington,  Oglethorpe  County.  When  young 
Harris  was  undergoing  his  examination  for  admission  to 
the  bar,  Austin  Dabney  stood  leaning  against  the  rail- 
ing that  inclosed  the  court,  listening  to  the  proceedings 
with  great  anxiety.  When  the  young  man  was  sworn 
in,  and  was  shaking  hands  with  the  members  of  the  bar, 
Austin,  unable  to  control  himself,  burst  into  a  flood  of 
tears,  happy  that  he  had  been  able  to  make  a  gentleman 
of  the  son  of  the  man  who  had  nursed  him  so  long  and 
patiently  while  his  wound  was  healing. 

When  the  public  lands  in  Georgia  were  distributed 
among  the  people  by  lottery,  the  Legislature  gave  to 
Austin  Dabney  a  lot  of  land  in  Walton  County.  The 


next  year  the  voters  of  Madison  County  were  in  a 
condition  bordering  on  distraction,  being  divided  into 
Dabney  and  anti-Dabney  parties.  Austin  had  not  been 
permitted  to  have  a  chance  in  the  lottery  with  other 
soldiers  of  the  Revolution.  Consequently  Stephen 
Upson,  one  of  Georgia's  most  prominent  men  at  that 
time,  employed  his  influence  with  such  effect  that  a  law 
was  passed  giving  Dabney  a  valuable  lot.  One  of  the 
members  of  the  Legislature  from  Madison  County  voted 
for  this  law.  At  the  next  election  the  constituents  of 
this  member  divided  themselves  into  two  parties,  one 
faction  indorsing  the  vote,  and  the  other  denouncing  it. 
Those  who  denounced  the  vote  did  it  on  the  ground  that 
it  was  an  indignity  to  white  men  for  a  mulatto  to  be  put 
on  an  equality  with  them  in  the  distribution  of  the  public 
land,  though,  as  Governor  Gilmer  bluntly  puts  it,  not 
one  of  them  had  served  his  country  so  long  or  so  well. 
Governor  Gilmer,  from  whose  writings  all  facts  about 
Austin  Dabney  are  taken,  tells  a  very  interesting  anec- 
dote about  him.  In  order  to  collect  the  pension  which 
the  United  States  Government  allowed  on  account  of 
his  broken  thigh,  Austin  went  once  a  year  to  Savannah. 
Once  when  he  was  on  his  way  to  draw  what  was  due  him, 
he  fell  in  with  Colonel  Wiley  Pope,  his  neighbor,  who  was 
also  journeying  to  Savannah.  They  were  very  intimate 
and  social  on  the  road,  and  until  they  found  themselves 
in  the  streets  of  Savannah.  When  they  reached  the 
fashionable  part  of  the  city,  Colonel  Pope  observed  to 
his  companion  that  he  was  a  sensible  man,  and  knew 
the  prejudices  that  prevented  them  from  associating 
together  in  the  city.  Austin  Dabney  replied  that  he 


understood  it  very  well,  and  with  that  he  checked  his 
horse  and  fell  in  the  rear  of  Colonel  Pope  after  the 
fashion  of  a  servant  following  his  master.  Their  way 
led  them  in  front  of  the  house  of  General  James  Jack- 
son, who  was  at  that  time  governor  of  the  State.  The 
governor  was  standing  in  his  door  at  the  time.  Colonel 
Pope  passed  on  unrecognized,  but,  chancing  to  glance 
around,  he  saw  Governor  Jackson  run  from  the  house 
into  the  street  to  greet  Austin  Dabney.  The  governor 
seized  the  negro's  hand,  shook  it  heartily,  drew  him 
from  his  horse,  and  carried  him  into  the  house,  where 
he  remained  a  welcome  guest  during  his  stay  in  the 
city.  Colonel  Pope  (so  Governor  Gilmer  says)  used  to 
tell  this  story  with  great  glee,  but  owned  that  he  felt 
put  out  when  he  realized,  that,  whilst  he  was  a  stranger 
at  a  tavern,  Austin  Dabney  was  the  honored  guest  of  the 
governor  of  the  State.  The  explanation  was,  that  Gov- 
ernor Jackson  had  seen  Dabney's  courage  and  patriot- 
ism tested  on  the  field  of  battle,  and  he  knew  that 
beneath  the  tawny  skin  of  the  mulatto  there  beat  the 
heart  of  a  true  man. 

Austin  Dabney  was  always  popular  with  those  who 
knew  of  his  services  in  the  Revolutionary  War.  Gov- 
ernor Gilmer  says  that  he  was  one  of  the  best  chroni- 
clers of  the  stirring  events  of  that  period.  His  memory 
was  retentive,  his  understanding  good,  and  he  had  a 
gift  of  description  possessed  by  few.  He  moved  to 
the  land  the  State  had  given  him,  taking  with  him  the 
family  of  the  man  who  had  nursed  him.  He  continued 
to  serve  them  while  he  lived,  faithful  to  the  end,  and 
when  he  died  left  them  the  property  he  had  accumulated. 


THE   YAZOO    FRAUD. 

SOME  writers  on  the  early  history  of  Georgia  have 
been  under  the  impression  that  the  speculation 
known  as  the  Yazoo  Fraud  had  its  beginning  in  the 
efforts  of  General  Elijah  Clarke  and  his  followers  to 
settle  on  the  Indian  reservation  lying  west  of  the  Oconee 
River ;  but  this  is  not  the  case  at  all.  General  Clarke's 
movement  was  the  result  of  an  enterprise  which  was 
aimed  against  the  Spaniards  ;  and,  though  the  facts  have 
no  real  connection  with  the  Yazoo  speculation,  they 
may  be  briefly  told  here,  especially  since  Stevens,  in  his 
"History  of  Georgia,"  turns  them  all  topsy-turvy. 

Genet  was  the  first  envoy  sent  to  represent  the  wild 
and  revolutionary  republic  of  France,  —  the  republic  of 
Robespierre  and  the  Jacobins.  He  represented,  as  well 
as  any  man  could,  the  ideas  and  purposes  of  those  who 
had  wrought  such  havoc  in  France.  He  was  meddle- 
some, wrong-headed,  unreasonable,  and  bold  with  it  all. 
He  sailed  from  France  in  a  ship  which  he  commanded 
himself ;  and  instead  of  going  straight  to  Philadelphia 
(then  the  seat  of  government),  where  his  business  called 
him,  he  landed  at  Charleston  in  South  Carolina.  War 
was  then  pending  between  France  and  Spain ;  and 
Genet,  after  landing  in  Charleston,  found  ready  sym- 
pathizers in  the  French  Huguenots  of  South  Carolina, 


121 

and  indeed  in  all  those  who  had  fought  for  American 
liberty.  There  were  two  reasons  why  the  fiery  appeals 
of  Genet  to  the  people  of  Carolina  to  take  up  arms 
against  Spain  were  received  enthusiastically.  One  was, 
that  the  Spaniards  in  Florida  had  been  at  constant  war 
with  the  people  of  Georgia  and  Carolina,  and  had  com- 
mitted many  crimes  and  depredations.  The  other  was, 
that  the  people  felt  grateful  to  France  for  the  aid  she 
had  given  the  American  Colonies  in  their  efforts  to 
shake  off  the  yoke  of  Great  Britain. 

Genet's  plan  was  to  raise  in  this  country  an  army 
large  enough  to  seize  the  Spanish  possessions  in  Florida, 
and  to  reconquer  Louisiana.  For  the  reasons  stated, 
Genet  found  the  people  enthusiastic  in  favor  of  his 
enterprise.  The  enthusiasm  was  intense.  It  crossed 
the  Savannah,  and  found  General  Elijah  Clarke,  with 
his  strong  nature  and  active  sympathies,  ready  to 
embrace  it.  His  military  prestige  in  the  South  com- 
mended him  to  Genet  as  the  man  to  lead  the  military 
enterprise  against  the  Spanish  settlements  in  the  South. 
Accordingly  he  was  given  command  of  the  army  that 
was  to  be  raised,  and  was  made  a  major  general  in  the 
French  service  with  a  pay  of  ten  thousand  dollars. 

Having  secured  ,  a  commander  whose  courage  and 
resources  in  the  field  could  be  depended  on,  Genet  went 
from  Charleston  to  Philadelphia  overland,  stirring  up 
sympathy  for  his  enterprise  and  enlisting  men.  His 
success  was  greater  than  he  had  dreamed  of.  He  found 
but  one  thing  in  his  way,  and  that  was  the  firmness  and 
vigilance  of  George  Washington.  This  great  man  set 
his  face  sternly  against  the  project ;  but  such  was  the 


122 

enthusiasm  of  the  people,  —  artfully  stirred  by  Genet, 
who  was  as  accomplished  as  he  was  unscrupulous,  — 
that  a  French  party  was  formed.  Genet  took  advan- 
tage of  the  formation  of  this  party  to  arouse  prejudice 
against  Washington ;  and  such  was  his  success,  that 
John  Adams,  who  was  afterwards  President,  says  that 
there  was  a  multitude  of  men  in  Philadelphia  ready  to 
drive  Washington  from  the  executive  chair. 

A  considerable  army  was  raised,  recruits  reported  to 
General  Clarke  from  the  Ohio  River  to  the  St.  Mary's, 
and  everything  was  ready  for  action.  At  that  moment 
the  heavy  hand  of  Washington  descended  on  the  enter- 
prise. The  recall  of  Genet  was  demanded,  the  French 
party  went  to  pieces,  the  project  collapsed,  and  Elijah 
Clarke  was  left  without  resources,  surrounded  by  a  con- 
siderable force  of  men  who  had  come  at  his  bidding  to 
take  part  in  the  attack  on  the  Spanish  possessions. 
These  men  were  on  his  hands,  expecting  the  fulfillment 
of  promises  that  had  been  made  to  them.  What  was  to 
be  done  ?  It  was  at  this  critical  period  that  the  eyes  of 
General  Clarke  turned  to  the  Indian  reservation  west  of 
the  Oconee.  He  marched  his  men  to  these  lands,  and 
took  possession.  He,  and  those  who  engaged  in  the 
movement  for  settling  the  lands,  ha.d  risked  their  lives 
for  their  country  on  a  hundred  battlefields.  They 
thought  that  the  lands  that  had  been  claimed  by  the 
King  belonged  to  those  who  had  conquered  the  "King's 
armies.  They  were  right  in  principle,  but  wrong  in 
action.  The  lands  that  had  belonged  to  the  King  now 
belonged  to  the  people,  not  as  individuals,  but  as  a  cor- 
porate body,  —  to  the  whole  people  represented  by  the 


123 

State  government.  These  principles  had  not  been 
made  as  clear  by  discussion  in  General  Clarke's  day  as 
they  have  been  made  since.  He  engaged  in  no  specu- 
lation. He  boldly  settled  the  lands,  and  was  prepared 
to  boldly  hold  his  position.  The  settlement  was  made 
in  1794.  On  the  28th  of  July,  Governor  George  Mat- 
thews issued  a  proclamation  forbidding  the  settlement, 
and  likewise  directed  one  of  the  judges  to  issue  a  war- 
rant for  the  general's  arrest  At  the  Superior  Court  of 
Wilkes  County,  Clarke  surrendered  himself  to  the 
judge,  who  referred  the  case  to  the  county  justices. 
These  judges  made  a  decision,  setting  forth  the  fact 
that  Elijah  Clarke  had  surrendered  himself  into  cus- 
tody; that,  being  desirous  to  do  speedy  justice  to  the 
State  as  well  as  to  the  party  charged,  they  had  pro- 
ceeded to  maturely  consider  the  case ;  and  that  after  ex- 
amining the  laws  of  the  State,  and  the  treaties  made  and 
laws  passed  by  the  United  States,  they  gave  it  as  their 
"decided  and  unanimous  opinion  that  the  said  Elijah 
Clarke  be  and  is  hereby  discharged."  Encouraged 
by  this  decision,  General  Clarke  returned  to  his  settle- 
ment with  the  intention  of  holding  the  lands ;  but  finally 
both  the  Federal  and  the  State  governments  moved 
against  him,  and  he  abandoned  the  enterprise.  The  pol- 
icy that  Clarke  began  in  settling  the  Indian  lands  with- 
out regard  to  the  rights  of  the  savage  has  since  become 
the  policy  of  the  government.  It  is  not  a  wholesome 
policy,  nor  is  it  authorized  by  the  moral  or  civil  law ; 
but  it  has  been  unblushingly  carried  out  nevertheless. 

The  Yazoo  Fraud  was  a  far  different  matter.     The 
very  name  of   it  was  foreign  to  Georgia,     It  was  bor- 


I24 

rowed  from  the  Indian  name  of  a  small  stream  which 
empties  itself  into  the  Mississippi  River.  When  the 
Colony  of  Georgia  was  first  settled,  the  land  granted  to 
Oglethorpe  was  described  as  lying  along  the  Savannah 
River,  extending  southward  along  the  coast  to  the 
Altamaha,  and  from  the  head  waters  of  these  rivers  west- 
ward to  "the  South  Seas."  Afterwards  Great  Britain 
changed  the  line  which  he  had  established.  She  carried 
the  boundary  line  of  West  Florida,  a  part  of  her  pos- 
sessions, higher  up.  The  new  line  started  from  the  Mis- 
sissippi at  the  mouth  of  the  Yazoo  River,  and  ran  due 
east  to  the  Chattahoochee  at  a  point  near  where  the  town 
of  West  Point  now  stands.  As  the  upper  boundary  of 
British  West  Florida  this  line  came  to  be  known  as 
the  Yazoo  line,  and  the  country  above  and  below  it  to 
an  indefinite  extent  came  to  be  known  as  the  Yazoo 
country.  No  boundary  can  now  be  fixed  to  the  region 
then  known  as  the  Yazoo  country.  At  the  close  of 
the  Revolutionary  War,  Great  Britain  made  a  treaty 
which  has  been  interpreted  as  vesting  in  the  United 
States  and  in  Georgia  the  right  and  title  to  these  lands, 
reaching  from  the  Chattahoochee  to  the  Yazoo  River, 
and  extending  on  each  side  of  this  line  to  a  distance 
that  has  never  been  estimated. 

The  Yazoo  Fraud  itself  had  a  somewhat  vague  begin- 
ning. From  the  best  information  that  can  now  be  ob- 
tained, it  may  be  said  that  it  was  set  on  foot  in  1789, 
shortly  after  the  close  of  the  Revolution,  by  a  sharper 
who  was  famous  in  that  day.  He  was  known  as 
Thomas  Washington,  but  his  real  name  was  Walsh. 
Washington,  or  Walsh,  is  described  as  being  a  very 


125 

extraordinary  man.  He  had  fought  in  the  service  of 
Georgia,  but  he  had  the  instinct  of  a  speculator ;  and 
when  the  war  was  ended,  he  gave  himself  up  to  the 
devices  of  those  who  earn  their  living  by  their  wits. 
He  was  a  man  of  good  address,  and  his  air  of  candor 
succeeded  in  deceiving  all  whom  he  met.  Those  who 
dealt  with  him  always  had  the  worst  of  the  bargain. 

When  Washington,  or  Walsh,  began  to  operate  in 
Georgia  through  agents,  he  found  the  way  already 
prepared  for  him.  The  War  for  Independence  had 
barely  closed,  when  certain  individuals,  most  of  them 
men  of  some  influence,  began  to  look  on  our  Western 
possessions  with  a  greedy  eye.  They  had  an  idea 
of  securing  these  lands  and  setting  up  a  new  govern- 
ment, —  a  sort  of  Western  empire.  To  further  their 
designs  they  began  by  forming  themselves  into  an 
association  called  the  "Combined  Society,"  the  mem- 
bers of  which  were  bound  to  secrecy  by  oaths  and 
other  solemn  pledges.  The  purpose  of  the  Combined 
Society  became  known,  and  the  force  of  public  opinion 
compelled  the  members  to  disband.  Some  of  them 
were  men  of  aristocratic  pretensions. 

Thus  Washington,  or  Walsh,  found  a  great  many 
sympathetic  people  in  Georgia.  He  was  too  well  known 
in  the  State  to  undertake  any  scheme  to  which  his 
name  was  attached :  so  he  worked  through  an  agent, 
a  man  named  Sullivan.  This  man  Sullivan  had  been 
a  captain  in  the  patriot  army ;  but  he  had  headed  the 
Philadelphia  mob  which  insulted  Congress,  and  he  was 
compelled  to  flee  to  the  Mississippi  to  save  his  neck. 
When  the  old  Congress  went  out,  Sullivan  felt  free  to 


126 

return.  He  came  to  Georgia,  representing,  or  pretend- 
ing to  represent,  the  Virginia  Yazoo  Company,  of 
which  the  celebrated  Patrick  Henry  was  a  member, 
and  made  application  to  the  State  Legislature  for  the 
purchase  of  the  Western  lands.  Sullivan's  description 
of  the  Yazoo  lands  was  so  glowing  that  another  com- 
pany was  formed  in  Georgia.  Some  of  the  members  of 
the  new  company  formerly  belonged  to  the  Combined 
Society,  but  others  were  men  of  good  standing.  This 
company  employed  active  agents  ;  but  no  corrupt  means 
were  used  so  far  as  is  now  known,  though  some  mem- 
bers of  the  General  Assembly  were  interested.  The 
efforts  of  the  company  were  successful.  Their  act  was 
passed,  and  the  sale  made.  Immediately  the  people 
began  to  oppose  the  scheme,  and  to  demand  the  repeal 
of  the  act.  The  demand  grew  into  a  State  issue,  and  the 
new  Legislature  declared  the  sale  null  and  void. 

For  a  while  the  land  grabbers  were  quiet ;  but  in  1 794 
it  seemed  to  the  most  eager  of  the  speculators  that  the 
time  had  come  for  them  to  make  another  effort  to 
secure  the  rich  Western  lands  that  belonged  to  the  State. 
They  were  evidently  afraid,  that,  unless  they  made 
haste  to  get  hold  of  the  lands,  the  people's  Legislature 
would  divide  them  out  or  sell  them  to  the  Federal 
Government.  So  they  formed  another  conspiracy,  and 
this  time  they  laid  their  plans  very  deep.  Acting  on 
the  principle  that  every  man  has  his  price,  they 
managed,  by  bribery  and  other  underhanded  schemes, 
to  win  the  sympathy  and  support  of  some  of  the  most 
prominent  men  in  the  State,  —  men  whose  names 
seemed  to  be  far  above  suspicion.  Some  of  the  highest 


127 


judges  lent  their  aid  to  the  land  grabbers.     Members 
of    Congress   were   concerned     in     the 
scheme.     Generals  and  other  high  offi- 
cers   of    the    militia   took    part    in    it. 
Nothing     was    left     undone    that    was 
calculated  to  win  the  support  of  men 
who,  up  to  that  time,  had  enjoyed  and 
deserved    the    confidence    and    respect 
of  the  State.     The  extent  of  the  bribery 
and    corruption   that  existed    would  be 
altogether  beyond  belief  if  the 
records  were  not  left  to  show 
were  both  bold 
and      in      one 
other      sought 
support  of   all 
men      of     the 
they  came  very 
ing. 

The    Legis- 


The  swindlers 
and  cunning, 
way  or  an- 
to  win  the 
the  leading 
State.  And 
near  succeed- 


lature  held  its 

session  in  Augusta  at  that 
time ;  and  while  the  Yazoo 
vk  land  sale  was  up  for  discus- 
sion,  the  agents  of  the  land 
grabbers  swarmed  around  it, 
coaxing,  bribing,  and  bullying 
the  people's  representatives. 
Among  these  agents  was  a 
judge  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States,  from 
Pennsylvania,  with  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  in  his 


128 

hands.  There  was  a  judge  of  the  United  States  Dis- 
trict Court  for  Georgia,  paying  shares  in  the  land 
company  for  the  votes  of  members.  A  United  States 
senator  from  Georgia,  James  Gunn,  who  had  neglected 
to  return  to  his  post  of  duty  in  Congress,  was  seen 
bullying  members  with  a  loaded  whip,  to  secure  their 
support  for  the  land-sale  scheme.  A  judge  of  the 
State  courts  was  also  present,  with  other  prominent 
citizens,  buttonholing  the  members  of  the  Legislature, 
offering  them  shares,  sub-shares,  and  half  sub-shares  to 
secure  their  votes.  General  James  Jackson,  who  was 
then  a  United  States  senator  from  Georgia,  was  told  by 
a  prominent  judge  of  the  State  that  he  might  have 
any  number  of  acres  he  pleased  up  to  half  a  million, 
without  the  payment  of  a  dollar,  if  he  would  use  his 
influence  in  behalf  of  the  corrupt  schemes  of  the  land 
grabbers.  In  reply,  General  Jackson  said  he  had 
fought  for  the  people  of  Georgia ;  that  the  land  be- 
longed to  them  and  to  their  children ;  and  that,  should 
the  conspirators  succeed,  he,  for  one,  would  hold  the 
sale  to  be  void.  Many  weak  men  in  the  Legislature 
were  intimidated  by  threats ;  and  some  who  could  not 
be  persuaded  to  vote  for  the  sale,  were  paid  to  go 
home,  and  remain  away  from  the  Legislature. 

In  this  way  the  representatives  of  the  people  were 
persuaded  and  bribed  to  support  the  scheme  of  the 
land  grabbers.  In  1795  the  bill  was  passed,  selling 
to  four  companies  —  the  Georgia  Company,  the  Georgia 
Mississippi  Company,  the  Upper  Mississippi  Company, 
and  the  Tennessee  Company  —  thirty-five  million  acres 
of  land  for  $500,000.  Nothing  was  now  wanting  to 


129 

complete  the  fraud  but  the  signature  of  the  governor. 
If  he  put  his  name  to  the  bill,  it  became  a  law.  If  he 
refused  to  sign  it,  the  scheme  of  the  swindlers  would 
fail.  General  George  Matthews  was  the  governor  at 
that  time,  and,  though  two  of  his  sons  had  been  made 
members  of  the  land-grabbing  companies,  it  was  hoped 
that  he  would  refuse  to  sign  the  bill.  The  hope  was 
justified  by  the  fact  that  he  had  refused  to  sign  a 
similar  bill,  and  had  given  some  very  good  reasons  for 
it.  It  was  known,  too,  that  he  was  a  man  of  great 
courage,  and  honest  in  his  intentions ;  but  the  influence 
brought  to  bear  on  him  was  too  great.  His  judgment 
was  weakened  by  the  clamor  of  the  prominent  men 
around  him,  who  had  become  the  paid  agents  of  the 
swindlers.  He  resisted  for  some  time,  but  finally 
agreed  to  sign  the  bill.  The  secretary  of  Governor 
Matthews,  a  man  named  Urquhart,  tried  to  prevent 
the  signing  of  the  bill  by  working  on  the  governor's 
superstitions.  He  dipped  the  pen  in  oil,  thinking 
that  when  Matthews  came  to  write  with  it,  and  found 
that  the  ink  refused  to  flow,  he  would  take  it  as  an 
omen  that  the  bill  should  not  be  signed.  The  governor 
was  startled,  when,  after  several  efforts,  he  found  the 
pen  would  not  write  ;  but  he  was  not  a  man  to  let  so 
trifling  a  matter  stand  in  his  way.  He  directed  his 
secretary  to  make  another  pen,  and  with  this  he  made 
the  land-steal  bill  a  law.  By  a  stroke  he  made  the  bill 
a  law,  and  also  signed  away  his  own  popularity  and 
influence.  The  people  of  Georgia  never  trusted  him 
afterwards ;  and  he  left  the  State,  finding  it  unpleasant 
and  uncomfortable  to  live  among  those  who  had  lost 
STO.  OF  GA.  —  9 


130 

their  respect  for  him.  Yet  no  charge  of  corruption  was 
ever  made  against  him. 

When  the  people  learned  that  the  Yazoo  Fraud  had 
become  a  law,  they  rose  up  as  one  man  to  denounce  it. 
Those  who  lived  in  the  neighborhood  of  Augusta  deter- 
mined to  put  to  death  the  men  who  had  betrayed  them. 
They  marched  to  the  legislative  halls,  and  were  only 
prevented  from  carrying  out  their  threats  by  the  per- 
suasion of  the  small  minority  of  the  members  that  had 
refused  to  be  coaxed,  bullied,  or  bribed  into  voting  for 
the  Yazoo  Fraud.  But  the  indignation  of  the  people 
continued  to  grow  as  they  learned  of  the  corrupt 
methods  that  had  been  employed  to  pass  the  measure. 
Meetings  were  held  in  every  county ;  and  public 
opinion  became  so  strong  that  those  who  had  voted 
for  the  Yazoo  Fraud  found  it  dangerous  to  remain 
in  the  State.  A  senator  from  Hancock  County  be- 
came so  alarmed  that  he  fled  to  South  Carolina.  He 
was  followed  by  one  of  his  neighbors,  found  in  a  lonely 
cabin  at  night,  and  shot  to  death.  Except  in  one  or 
two  counties,  the  men  who  voted  for  the  Yazoo  Fraud 
were  compelled  to  hide  themselves  until  the  anger  of 
the  people  had  cooled. 

In  his  "  Sketches  of  the  First  Settlers  of  Upper 
Georgia,"  Governor  George  R.  Gilmer  tells  a  little 
story  that  will  serve  to  show  the  state  of  feeling  in 
Georgia  at  that  time.  After  the  Yazoo  Fraud  was 
passed,  the  people  of  the  counties  held  indignation 
meetings.  A  meeting  was  called  in  Oglethorpe  County, 
and  on  the  morning  of  the  day,  a  citizen  on  his  way  to 
town  stopped  at  the  gate  of  a  neighbor  to  wait  until  he 


could  get  ready  to  go.  The  man  who  was  getting 
ready  was  named  Miles  Jennings.  The  citizen,  wait- 
ing, saw  Mr.  Jennings  put  a  rope  in  his  pocket. 

"  What  is  that  for  ?  "  the  citizen  asked. 

"To  hang  Musgrove !  "  replied  Mr.  Jennings,  Mus- 
grove  being  the  name  of  the  member  of  the  Legis- 
lature. 

When  the  two  neighbors  arrived  at  the  courthouse, 
all   the  people    had  assem- 
bled.    Mr.  Jennings  hitched 
his  horse,  went  into  the 
crowd,   pulled   the   rope 
from  his  pocket,  and, 
holding  it  above  his 
head  where  all  could 
see  it,  cried  out,  — 

"  Neighbors !  this 
rope  is  to  hang  Mus- 
grove, who  sold  the 
people's  land  for  a 
bribe  !  " 

The  words  of  Jen- 
nings and  the  sight  of  the  rope  made  the  people 
furious.  Musgrove  had  been  given  a  hint  by  Jennings's 
neighbor,  and  he  had  made  good  his  escape.  But  for 
that,  no  human  power  could  have  saved  him. 

The  whole  State  was  in  a  condition  of  excitement 
that  is  hard  to  describe.  Grand  juries  made  present- 
ments, county  and  town  meetings  passed  resolutions, 
and  petitions  were  sent  from  hand  to  hand,  and  signed 
by  hundreds  of  people.  A  State  convention,  called  to 


132 

alter  the  constitution,  had  been  chosen  to  meet  in  May, 
1795,  but  the  members  had  been  chosen  at  the  same 
time  that  the  members  of  the  corrupt  Legislature  had 
been  elected;  and  a  majority  of  them  had  been  "  tarred 
with  the  same  stick,"  as  the  saying  goes.  The  present- 
ments, resolutions,  and  petitions  crowded  so  fast  upon 
the  convention,  that  it  was  decided  to  postpone  the 
changing  of  the  constitution  to  a  time  when  the  people 
were  in  a  better  humor.  The  convention  referred  all 
the  papers  it  had  received  to  the  next  Legislature,  and 
adjourned  in  some  confusion. 

This  added  to  the  excitement  and  anger  of  the  peo- 
ple. They  were  in  doubt  how  to  act.  Delay  would 
give  the  land  grabbers  time  to  sell  the  lands  they  had 
secured  through  bribery  and  corruption.  But  whom 
could  the  people  trust  ?  They  had  been  betrayed  by 
many  of  their  highest  judges,  by  one  of  their  United 
States  senators,  and  by  a  large  majority  of  their  Legis- 
lature. A  great  many  believed  that  all  the  powers  of 
government  had  come  to  an  end. 

During  the  troubled  times  of  the  Revolution  it  had 
been  the  custom  of  military  officers  having  the  confi- 
dence of  the  people  to  convene  the  Legislative  Assembly 
when  an  emergency  seemed  to  call  for  it.  In  the  midst 
of  their  doubt  and  confusion,  the  people  applied  to  Gen- 
eral Twiggs,  the  senior  major  general,  to  convene  the 
Legislature  in  order  that  action  might  be  taken  before 
the  swindlers  sold  the  lands  they  had  obtained  by  fraud  ; 
but  General  Twiggs  refused  to  act  in  a  case  in  which  he 
had  no  clear  right  and  power,  so  the  people  remained 
for  the  time  being  without  a  remedy. 


133 

From  the  very  beginning  of  this  scheme  to  defraud 
the  people  of  the  State,  it  had  been  bitterly  opposed  by 
General  James  Jackson,  who  was  representing  Georgia 
in  the  United  States  Senate.  He  denounced  it  in  the 
Senate.  He  corresponded  with  the  most  eminent  men 
in  the  State,  he  wrote  to  the  newspapers,  and  in  every 
possible  way  held  up  to  the  scorn  and  contempt  of  the 
public  the  men  who  were  trying  to  defraud  the  State  of 
its  rich  Western  lands.  On  the  other  hand,  the  con- 
spirators left  nothing  undone  to  injure  the  reputation 
of  General  Jackson.  His  character  was  attacked,  and 
his  life  was  several  times  threatened.  As  early  as  the 
spring  of  1795,  he  took  occasion  in  full  Senate,  and  in 
the  presence  of  General  James  Gunn  (the  Georgia  sen- 
ator who  was  representing  the  swindlers),  to  denounce 
the  scheme  as  "  a  speculation  of  the  darkest  character 
and  of  deliberate  villany." 

By  his  bold,  even  violent  opposition  to  the  Yazoo 
sale,  General  Jackson  had  made  himself  the  leader  of 
the  people.  Therefore  in  1795,  while  he  was  still  sen- 
ator, many  of  the  people  requested  him  to  resign,  so 
that  he  might  use  his  influence  and  great  talents  in 
bringing  about  the  repeal  of  the  obnoxious  law.  He 
tendered  his  resignation  at  once,  and  returned  home. 
He  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Legislature,  and  de- 
voted all  his  time  and  all  his  energy  to  blotting  out  the 
odious  law.  He  became  a  member  of  the  committee 
appointed  to  investigate  the  means  used  to  pass  the 
law,  and  under  his  leadership  the  whole  scandalous 
affair  was  probed  to  the  bottom. 

In  electing  the  new  Legislature,  the  only  issue  was 


134 

Yazoo  and  anti-Yazoo.  The  people  were  successful  in 
electing  men  who  favored  the  repeal  of  the  law.  There 
was  no  other  business  before  the  General  Assembly 
until  this  matter  was  disposed  of.  The  body  was 
flooded  with  the  petitions  and  remonstrances  that  had 
been  sent  to  the  convention.  The  Legislature  had  met 
in  January,  1/95.  At  once  a  day  was  set  to  "  consider 
the  state  of  the  Republic."  On  that  day  the  petitions 
and  presentments  were  considered,  and  referred  to  a 
committee,  of  which  General  Jackson  was  appointed 
chairman.  On  the  22d  of  January  the  committee  re- 
ported not  only  that  the  act  was  unconstitutional,  but 
that  fraud  had  been  practiced  to  secure  its  passage.  On 
these  grounds  they  declared  that  the  act  was  a  nullity, 
and  not  binding  on  the  people  of  the  State. 

The  bill  declaring  the  sale  void  was  drawn  up  by 
General  Jackson.  It  passed  both  Houses  by  large 
majorities,  and  was  signed  by  Governor  Irwin.  The 
feeling  of  the  Legislature  was  so  strong,  that,  after  the 
Yazoo  act  had  been  repealed,  it  was  decided  to  destroy 
all  the  records  and  documents  relating  to  the  corruption. 
By  order  of  the  two  Houses  a  fire  was  kindled  in  the 
public  square  of  Louisville,  which  was  then  the  capital. 
The  enrolled  act  that  had  been  secured  by  fraud  was 
brought  out  by  the  secretary  of  state,  and  by  him  deliv- 
ered to  the  President  of  the  Senate  for  examination. 
That  officer  delivered  the  act  to  the  Speaker  of  the 
House.  The  Speaker  in  turn  passed  it  to  the  clerk, 
who  read  the  title  of  the  act  and  the  other  records,  and 
then,  committing  them  to  the  flames,  cried  out  in  a  loud 
voice,  "  God  save  the  State  and  preserve  her  rights,  and 


135 

may  every  attempt  to  injure  them  perish  as  these  wicked 
and  corrupt  acts  now  do  !  " 

The  flames  in  which  the  records  were  burned  were 
kindled  by  means  of  a  sun  glass,  so  that  it  might  be 
truly  said  that  fire  came  down  from  heaven  to  destroy 
the  evidences  of  corruption.-  There  is  a  tradition  that 
when  the  officers  of  the  State  had  met  to  destroy  the 
records,  an  old  man,  a  stranger  to  all  present,  rode 
through  the  multitude,  and  made  his  way  to  where  the 
officials  stood.  Lifting  up  his  voice,  he  declared,  that, 
feeble  as  he  was,  he  had  come  there  to  see  an  act  of 
justice  performed,  but  he  thought  the  fire  in  which  the 
records  of  corruption  were  to  be  destroyed  should  come 
from  heaven.  The  people  watched  him  in  silence.  He 
drew  from  his  bosom  with  trembling  hands  a  sun  glass, 
and  in  this  way  burned  the  papers.  Then,  says  tradi- 
tion, the  white-haired  old  man  mounted  his  horse  and 
rode  away,  and  was  never  seen  again. 


GEORGE  MATTHEWS  AND  JOHN  CLARKE. 


IN  giving  the  history  of  the  Yazoo  Fraud,  mention 
has  been  made  of  General  George  Matthews,  who 
was  governor  at  the  time,  and  who  was  compelled  to 
leave  the  State  because  he  had  been  persuaded  to  sign 
the  bill.  General  Matthews  was  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  characters  of  his  time.  Governor  Gilmer 
has  drawn  a  very  interesting  portrait  of  him.  It  is  not 
a  pleasing  picture  in  some  respects,  but  it  gives  a  very 

136 


137 

interesting  glimpse  of  a  man  who  in  his  day  was  one 
of  the  strongest  characters  in  the  State. 

He  was  the  son  of  an  Irishman  named  John 
Matthews,  who  settled  in  western  Virginia  in  1/37. 
George  Matthews  began  to  fight  the  Indians  at  an  age 
when  most  boys  are  at  school.  In  1761  the  Indians 
attacked  and  murdered  a  family  not  far  from  his 
father's  home.  He  heard  the  guns,  and  thought  that 
a  shooting  match  was  going  on.  With  some  compan- 
ions of  his  own  age,  he  rode  forward  to  join  in  the 
sport ;  but  the  youngsters  saw  the  dead  bodies  of  their 
neighbors  lying  in  the  yard  where  they  had  been  left 
by  the  murderous  savages,  and  at  once  turned  their 
horses'  heads  and  fled.  They  were  not  a  moment  too 
soon ;  for  the  Indians,  who  had  been  lying  in  ambush, 
rose  and  fired  at  the  boys.  Matthews  had  a  narrow 
escape ;  for  a  bullet  cut  off  the  wisp  of  hair  (known  as 
a  queue)  that  hung  dangling  from  the  back  of  his  head. 
The  danger  that  he  had  passed  through,  and  the  sight 
of  his  murdered  neighbors,  roused  young  Matthews  to 
action.  He  collected  a  party  of  men,  put  himself  at 
the  head  of  them,  followed  and  overtook  the  savages, 
and  killed  nine  of  their  number. 

In  the  greatest  battle  that  ever  took  place  between 
the  Virginians  and  the  Indians,  Matthews  commanded 
a  company,  and  bore  a  very  conspicuous  part.  The 
battle  took  place  at  the  junction  of  the  Ohio  River  with 
the  Kanawha,  on  what  was  called  Point  Pleasant.  The 
fight  began  at  sunrise,  and  was  kept  up  all  day,  with  no 
great  success  on  either  side.  The  Indians  held  their 
ground,  and  refused  to  giv^  way  before  the  most 


1 38 

stubborn  attacks  of  the  Virginians.  Near  sundown, 
Matthews,  with  two  other  captains,  made  a  strategic 
movement.  The  three  companies  were  withdrawn 
from  the  battle.  Out  of  sight  of  the  enemy,  they  got 
into  the  bed  of  a  creek.  Hidden  by  the  banks  of  the 
stream,  they  marched  to  the  rear  of  the  Indians,  and 
from  this  point  made  an  attack.  The  movement  had 
been  so  cleverly  carried  out,  that  the  savages  were 
taken  completely  by  surprise,  and  driven  across  the 
Ohio. 

Early  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  General  Washington, 
who  knew  well  the  value  of  the  training  Matthews  had 
received  on  the  frontier,  ordered  him  and  the  regiment 
which  he  commanded  to  join  the  main  army.  He  took 
part  in  the  battle  of  the  Brandywine ;  and  at  the  battle 
of  Germantown  he  led  his  regiment  against  the  British 
opposing  him,  drove  them  back,  and  pushed  on  to  the 
center  of  the  town,  where  he  captured  a  regiment  of  the 
enemy.  Shortly  after  this,  while  engaged  in  a  skirmish, 
his  courage  led  him  too  close  to  the  British.  He  was 
knocked  down,  severely  wounded  by  a  bayonet  thrust, 
and  taken  prisoner.  He  was  sent  to  the  British  prison 
ship  in  New  York  Harbor.  He  was  there  treated  with 
so  much  cruelty  that  he  appealed  to  his  government  for 
relief.  In  response  to  that  appeal,  Thomas  Jefferson, 
who  was  then  governor  of  Virginia,  wrote  him  a  per- 
sonal letter,  in  which  he  said,  "  We  know  that  the 
ardent  spirit  and  hatred  of  tyranny  which  brought  you 
into  your  present  situation  will  enable  you  to  bear  up 
against  it  with  the  firmness  which  has  distinguished 
you  as  a  soldier,  and  look  forward  with  pleasure  to  the 


139 

day  when  events  shall  take  place  against  which  the 
wounded  spirit  of  your  enemies  will  find  no  comfort, 
even  from  reflections  on  the  most  refined  of  the 
cruelties  with  which  they  have  glutted  themselves." 

General  Matthews  was  not  exchanged  until  the  close 
of  the  war.  He  then  joined  the  Southern  army  under 
General  Greene,  and  commanded  the  Third  Virginia 
Regiment.  While  in  the  South,  he  bought  a  tract  of 
land  on  Broad  River,  known  as  the  Goose  Pond.  He  set- 
tled there  with  his  family  in  1784.  The  fame  he  had 
won  as  a  soldier  made  General  Matthews  at  that  time 
the  principal  man  in  Georgia.  He  was  elected  governor 
in  1786.  When  his  term  expired,  he  was  sent  to 
Congress.  In  1794-95  he  was  again  made  governor; 
and  it  was  at  this  time,  that,  contrary  to  all  expecta- 
tions, he  was  prevailed  on  to  sign  the  Yazoo  Act.  No 
charge  of  corruption  was  ever  made  against  him.  No 
thief  or  swindler  was  ever  bold  enough  to  try  to  bribe 
such  a  high-spirited  and  fearless  man.  But  excitement 
in  the  State  ran  so  high,  that  General  Matthews  was 
ruined  so  far  as  his  influence  was  concerned.  He  left 
Georgia,  and  never  afterwards  made  the  State  his  home 
for  any  long  period. 

In  1811  a  lot  of  runaway  negroes,  ruffians,  and 
lawless  men  congregated  in  Florida  in  such  numbers 
•that  they  were  able  to  get  control  of  affairs.  They 
formed  a  government  of  their  own,  and  then  petitioned 
the  United  States  to  make  Florida  one  of  their  terri- 
tories. President  Madison  appointed  General  Mat- 
thews the  agent  of  the  United  States  to  negotiate  with 
the  "  constituted  authorities "  for  the  annexation  of 


140 

Florida.  General  Matthews  made  a  treaty  with  those 
who  were  in  control  of  Florida ;  but  Spain  protested, 
and  the  President  finally  declared  that  the  treaty  had 
not  been  made  with  the  "  constituted  authorities." 

General  Matthews  was  not  a  learned  man  (he  knew 
nothing  of  books),  and  he  could  not  understand  the  fuss 
that  was  made  over  the  term  "  constituted  authorities." 
He  became  very  angry  with  the  President,  said  that 
that  officer  had  a  cowardly  fear  of  Spain  and  Great 
Britain,  and  declared  that  he  would  go  to  Washington 
to  "  thrash"  the  President.  He  actually  set  out  on 
that  errand ;  but  the  fatigue  and  exposure  which  he 
had  experienced  in  Florida,  and  the  high  state  of 
excitement  under  which  he  labored,  threw  him  into 
a  fever  while  he  was  on  his  journey  to  Washington, 
and  he  died  in  Augusta  in  March,  1812. 

Previous  to  his  Florida  appointment,  General  Mat- 
thews had  been  nominated  to  be  governor  of  the 
Territory  of  Mississippi  by  President  Adams ;  but  the 
opposition  was  so  great  that  the  President  withdrew 
the  nomination.  When  General  Matthews  heard  of 
this,  he  promptly  set  out  for  Philadelphia  to  call  the 
President  to  account.  He  rode  to  Mr.  Adams's  house, 
gave  a  loud  knock  on  the  door,  and  told  the  servant 
he  wished  to  see  the  President.  The  servant  said  the 
President  was  engaged  ;  but  General  Matthews  bristled 
with  anger  at  the  bare  thought  that  any  man,  even  the 
President,  could  be  engaged  in  any  business  more  im- 
portant than  talking  to  George  Matthews,  late  colonel 
of  the  Virginia  line,  and  governor  of  the  State  of 
Georgia.  Therefore  he  told  the  servant  to  go  at  once 


and  tell  the  President  that  a  gentleman  wished  to  speak 
to  him ;  and  he  added,  that,  if  the  message  was  not 
carried  at  once,  the  servant  would  find  his  head  taken 
from  his  shoulders.  General  Matthews  wore  his  Revo- 
lutionary sword  and  cocked  hat,  and  he  succeeded  in 
convincing  the  servant  that  he  was  not  to  be  trifled 
with.  He  was  promptly  admitted  into  the  presence 
of  Mr.  Adams,  and,  with  the  touch  of 
Irish  brogue  he  had  caught  from  his 
father,  he  made  himself  and  his  busi- 
ness known.  He  introduced  him- 
self, and  then  said  to  the  President,— 

"  Now,  sir,  I  understand  that  you 
nominated    me    to    the    Senate    of 
these  United  States,  to  be  governor 
of  the  Territory  of  Mississippi,  and 
that  afterwards  you  took  back  the 
nomination.       Sir,     if     you     had 
known  me,  you  would   not   have 
taken  the    nomination    back.      If 
you  did  not  know  me,  you  should 
not  have  nominated  me  to  so  im- 
portant an  office.     Now,  sir,  unless 
you  can  satisfy  me,  your  station  as  President  of  these 
United  States  shall  not  screen  you  from  my  vengeance." 

Mr.  Adams  at  once  made  himself  agreeable,  for  he 
had  nothing  but  good  will  for  the  stanch  Georgia 
Federalist.  The  outcome  of  the  meeting  was  that 
the  President  promised  to  appoint  the  general's  son 
John  to  be  supervisor  of  the  revenue,  and  this  promise 
he  carried  out. 


142 

Governor  Gilmer,  in  his  racy  reminiscences  of  the 
people  who  settled  in  the  Broad  River  region,  draws  an 
interesting  portrait  of  General  Matthews.  He  describes 
him  as  a  short,  thick  man,  with  stout  legs,  on  which 
he  stood  very  straight.  "  He  carried  his  head  rather 
thrown  back.  His  features  were  full  and  bluff,  his  hair 
light  red,  and  his  complexion  fair  and  florid.  He  ad- 
mitted no  superior  but  General  Washington.  He  spoke 
of  his  services  to  his  country  as  unsurpassed  except  by 
those  of  his  great  chief.  He  wore  a  three-cornered 
cocked  hat,  top  boots,  a  shirt  full  ruffled  at  the  bosom 
and  wrists,  and  sometimes  a  long  sword  at  his  side. 
To  listen  to  his  talk  about  himself,  his  children,  and  his 
affairs,  one  would  have  thought  that  he  was  but  a  puff 
of  wind.  Trade  or  talk  of  history  with  him,  and  he  was 
found  to  be  one  of  the  shrewdest  of  men.  Fight  with 
him,  and  he  never  failed  to  act  the  hero.  He  was  un- 
learned. He  spelled  '  coffee '  k-a-u-g-h-p-h-y.  He 
wrote  '  Congress '  with  a  K." 

When  it  is  considered  that  he  had  small  opportunity 
to  train  himself  in  any  direction  except  rough  fighting, 
General  Matthews  must  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  men  of  his  time. 

Another  remarkable  man  who  figured  largely  in  both 
the  military  and  political  history  of  the  State  was  Gen- 
eral John  Clarke,  son  of  the  famous  Elijah  Clarke.  John 
Clarke  became  a  soldier  in  the  Revolutionary  War  when 
a  mere  boy.  He  had  followed  his  father  to  camp,  and 
remained  with  him.  He  took  part  in  many  skirmishes ; 
but  at  the  battle  of  Kettle  Creek,  in  Wilkes  County,  he 
distinguished  himself  by  his  coolness  and  courage.  He 


H3 

fought  through  the  war.  He  was  made  a  lieutenant  at 
sixteen  years  of  age,  and  when  the  war  ended  he  was  a 
major.  After  the  war  he  was  made  a  brigadier,  and 
then  a  major  general  of  the  militia.  After  aiding  to 
run  the  British  out  of_  the  State,  and  subduing  the 
Tories,  General  Clarke  turned  his  attention  to  the 
Indians.  At  the  battle  of  Jacks  Creek,  in  Walton 
County,  in  1/87,  he  greatly  distinguished  himself,  hav- 
ing charge  of  one  of  the  wings  of  the  Georgia  forces. 

It  was  natural  that  a  man  raised  in  camp,  and  brought 
up  in  the  midst  of  the  rough  and  tough  elements  that 
are  collected  together  there,  should  possess  qualities  not 
calculated  to  fit  him  for  the  polite  transactions  that  take 
place  in  drawing  rooms  and  parlors.  General  Clarke's 
self-reliance  was  extreme.  Having  commanded  men 
from  the  time  he  was  sixteen,  it  was  natural  that  his 
temper  and  his  manners  should  be  offensive,  to  some 
extent,  to  those  who  were  not  thoughtful  enough  to  make 
due  allowance  for  these  things.  It  thus  happened  that 
when  peace  came,  John  Clarke's  methods  and  prac- 
tices made  him  many  bitter  enemies.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  sterling  qualities  of  his  character  made  him 
many  strong  friends. 

Coming  out  of  the  war  with  neither  trade  nor  pro- 
fession, and  with'  only  the  rudiments  of  an  education, 
John  Clarke  was  compelled  to  turn  his  attention  to 
politics.  With  him  politics  was  simply  a  modified  form 
of  war.  He  had  never  given  any  quarter  to  the  Tories, 
and  he  gave  small  quarter  to  his  political  enemies.  But 
he  was  as  faithful  to  his  friends  in  politics  as  he  had 
been  to  the  cause  of  American  liberty.  He  was  un- 


144 

compromising,  whether  dealing  with  friends  or  enemies, 
and  his  temper  was  such  that  he  regarded  his  opponents 
as  his  personal  enemies.  Of  his  political  career,  men- 
tion will  be  made  in  another  place.  It  is  sufficient  to 
say  that  a  quarrel  he  had  with  a  judge  divided  the 
people  of  the  State  into  two  parties,  and  the  contest 
between  them  was  carried  on  for  several  years.  The 
prejudices  that  sprang  up  in  that  contest  lasted  for 
more  than  a  generation,  and  strong  traces  of  them  are 
to  be  found  in  estimates  of  General  Clarke's  character 
written  long  after  he  was  dead. 

Only  a  man  of  the  strongest  character,  and  possessing 
the  most  remarkable  qualities,  could  have  made  such  a 
marked  impression  on  the  political  history  of  a  common- 
wealth. 


AFTER   THE   REVOLUTION. 


T 


HE       Revolution 
came  to  an   end 
in   Georgia  when,  on 
the  nth  of  July,  1782, 
Savannah   was  taken 
possession  of   by  the 
American       troops 
under  General  An- 
thony  Wayne.      It 
ended  for  the  whole 
country    when,    on    the 
30th  of  November  of  the 
same  year,  the  treaty  of 


peace  was  signed  at  Paris  between 
the  United  States  and  Great  Britain.  The  King  of 
Great  Britain  acknowledged  the  independence  of  the 
Thirteen  States,  and  declared  them  free  and  sovereign. 
This  was  a  very  happy  event  for  the  country,  and  had 
been  long  looked  forward  to  by  the  people,  sometimes 
doubtfully,  but  always  hopefully. 

But  the  great  victory  that  had  been  won  found  the 
people  of  Georgia  prostrate.  The  little  property  that 
they  possessed  when  the  war  began  had  either  been 
spent  in  maintaining  the  struggle,  or  well-nigh  de- 


STO.  OF  GA. —  IO 


146 

stroyed  by  the  raids  of  the  British  and  Tories.  In  the 
larger  communities  of  Savannah  and  Augusta,  the  citi- 
zens had  the  resources  of  trade  and  commerce  to  fall 
back  on,  but  in  the  smaller  settlements  and  rural  dis- 
tricts the  condition  of  the  inhabitants  bordered  on 
destitution. 

At  the  time  that  Savannah  was  surrendered  to  the 
American  troops,  there  was  almost  a  famine  in  the 
land.  The  soldiers  were  without  shoes,  and  sometimes 
they  were  without  supplies.  The  crops  were  short  on 
account  of  the  lack  of  farmers.  The  condition  of  the 
people  was  quite  as  bad  as  that  of  the  troops,  especially 
when  the  disbanded  militia  returned  to  their  homes. 
Houses,  barns,  and  fences  had  been  burned ;  stock 
and  cattle  had  been  slaughtered  or  driven  away ;  and 
there  was  a  great  lack  of  even  the  necessities  of  life. 

But  those  whose  energy  and  spirit  upheld  them 
through  the  long  struggle  for  independence  were  not 
the  men  to  surrender  to  the  hard  circumstances  that 
surrounded  them.  They  went  to  work  as  bravely  as 
they  had  fought ;  and  the  sacrifices  they  made  to  peace 
were  almost  as  severe,  though  not  so  bloody,  as  those 
they  had  made  to  war.  Slowly,  but  surely  and  steadily, 
they  reclaimed  their  waste  farms.  Slowly,  but  surely 
and  steadily,  they  recovered  from  the  prostration  that 
the  war  had  brought  on  their  industries.  Slowly,  but 
surely  and  steadily,  the  people  worked  their  way  back 
to  comparative  prosperity.  There  may  have  been  a 
few  drones  in  the  towns,  but  there  were  no  idle  hands 
in  the  country  places. 

The    men   built   for   their   families   comfortable    log 


147 

cabins  ;  and  these,  with  their  clean  sanded  floors,  are 
still  the  fashion  in  some  parts  of  Georgia.  This  done, 
they  went  about  the  business  of  raising  crops,  and 
stocking  their  farms  with  cattle.  The  women  and 
children  were  just  as  busy.  In  every  cabin  could  be 
heard  the  hum  of  the  spinning  wheel,  and  the  thump 
of  the  old  hand  loom.  While  the  men  were  engaged 
in  their  outdoor  work,  the  women  spun,  wove,  and 
made  the  comfortable  jeans  clothes  that  were  the 
fashion;  while  the  girls  plaited  straw,  and  made  hats 
and  bonnets,  and  in  many  other  ways  helped  the 
older  people.  In  a  little  while  peddlers  from  the 
more  northern  States  began  to  travel  through  Georgia 
with  their  various  wares,  some  with  pewter  plates  and 
spoons,  and  some  with  clocks.  The  peddlers  traveled 
in  wagons  instead  of  carrying  their  packs  on  their 
backs,  and  in  this  way  brought  a  great  deal  of  mer- 
chandise to  the  State. 

As  was  natural,  the  political  development  of  Georgia 
was  much  more  rapid  than  its  industrial  progress.  In 
January,  1783,  Lyman  Hall  was  elected  governor.  He 
was  distinguished  for  the  patriotic  stand  he  took  at  the 
very  beginning  of  the  controversy  between  the  Colony 
and  the  King.  The  Legislature  met  in  Savannah  after 
the  evacuation  of  the  town  by  the  British ;  but  it  was 
so  far  from  the  central  and  upper  portions  of  the 
State,  and  there  was  so  much  dissatisfaction  among 
the  people  on  this  account,  that  in  May  Augusta  was 
made  the  capital.  In  that  town  the  General  Assembly 
met  July  8,  1783.  Measures  were  at  once  taken  to 
seize  land,  and  confiscate  the  property  of  those  Royal- 


ists  who  had  lived  in  Georgia.  This  property  was  sold 
for  the  benefit  of  the  public.  In  November  of  the 
same  year  a  new  cession  of  land  was  obtained  from 
the  Creek  nation  by  treaty.  This  was  divided  into 
the  counties  of  Franklin  and  Washington,  and  the 
land  distributed  in  bounties  to  the  soldiers  of  the 
war. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  about  this  time,  when  the 
State  had  hardly  begun  to  recover  from  the  effects  of 
the  war,  the  representatives  of  the  people  began  to 
move  in  the  matter  of  education.  The  Constitution 
of  1777  had  declared  that  "  schools  shall  be  erected 
in  each  county,  and  supported  by  the  general  expense 
of  the  State."  On  the  3ist  of  July,  1783,  the  Legis- 
lature appropriated  one  thousand  acres  of  land  to 
each  county  for  the  support  of  free  schools.  In  1784, 
a  short  time  after  the  notification  of  the  treaty  of  peace, 
the  Legislature  passed  an  act  appropriating  forty  thou- 
sand acres  of  land  for  the  endowment  of  a  college  or 
university.  A  year  later  the  charter  for  this  univer- 
sity was  granted ;  and  the  preamble  of  the  act  declares 
it  to  be  the  policy  of  the  State  to  foster  education  in 
the  most  liberal  way.  It  so  happened  that  some  of  the 
provisions  that  had  been  made  for  public  education 
were  not  carried  out  at  once,  and  the  people  of  the 
various  settlements  established  schools  of  their  own. 
Many  of  the  best  teachers  of  the  country  came  to 
Georgia  from  the  more  northern  States ;  and  some  of 
them  won  a  reputation  that  has  lasted  to  this  day. 
Later,  more  than  one  of  these  teachers  established 
schools  that  became  famous  all  over  the  country.  In 


149 

this    way  the    reign    of   the  "old    field    schoolmaster" 
began,  and  continued  for  many  years. 

The  people  had  been  cultivating  cotton  on  a  small 
scale  before  1791  ;  but  the  staple  was  so  difficult  to 
handle,  that  the  planting  was  limited.  Those  who 
grew  it  were  compelled  to  separate  the  seed  from 


the  lint  by  hand,  and  this  was  so  tedious  that  few 
people  would  grow  it.  But  in  1793,  Eli  Whitney,  who 
was  living  on  the  plantation  of  General  Greene,  near 
Savannah,  invented  the  cotton  gin.  The  machine  was 
a  very  awkward  and  cumbrous  affair  compared  with 
the  gins  of  the  present  day ;  but  in  that  day  and 
time,  and  for  many  years  after,  the  Whitney  was  suf- 


ficient  for  the  needs  of  the  people.  It  was  one  of  the 
most  important  inventions  that  have  ever  been  made. 
It  gave  to  the  commerce  of  the  world  a  staple  com- 
modity that  is  in  universal  demand,  and  it  gave  to  the 
people  of  the  South  their  most  valuable  and  important 
crop.  But  for  this  timely  invention,  the  cultivation 
of  cotton  would  have  been  confined  to  the  narrowest 
limits.  The  gin  proved  to  be  practicable,  and  it  came 
into  use  very  quickly.  The  farmers  prospered,  and 
gradually  increased  the  cotton  crop. 

The  population  also  increased  very  rapidly.  The 
rich  lands  were  purchased  and  settled  on  by  farmers 
from  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas.  The  colony  that  had 
been  planted  by  Oglethorpe  had  never  ventured  very 
far  from  the  seacoast.  A  few  probably  followed  the 
course  of  the  Savannah  River,  and  made  their  homes 
in  that  region ;  but  the  people  brought  over  by  Ogle- 
thorpe were  not  of  the  stuff  that  pioneers  are  made 
of.  The  experience  they  had  undergone  in  the  mother 
country  had  tamed  them  to  such  a  degree  that  they 
had  no  desire  to  brave  the  future  in  the  wilderness. 
Adventures  of  that  kind  were  left  for  the  hardy  North 
Carolinians  and  Virginians  who  first  settled  what  was 
then  known  as  Upper  Georgia.  After  the  Revolution, 
this  tide  of  immigration  increased  very  rapidly,  and  it 
was  still  further  swelled  by  the  profits  that  the  Whit- 
ney gin  enabled  the  planters  of  Georgia  to  make  out 
of  their  cotton  crops. 

The  settling  of  Georgia  began  with  the  charitable 
scheme  of  Oglethorpe.  The  making  of  Georgia  began 
when  the  North  Carolinians  and  Virginians  began  to 


open  up  the  Broad  River  region  to  the  north  of 
Augusta.  It  was  due  to  the  desperate  stand  taken  by 
these  hardy  pioneers  that  Georgia  continued  the  strug- 
gle for  American  independence.  To  Upper  Georgia 
came  some  of  the  best  families  from  Virginia  and  North 
Carolina,  —  the  Grattons,  the  Lewises,  the  Clarkes,  the 
Strothers,  the  Crawfords,  the  Reeses,  the  Harrises, 
the  Andrewses,  the  Taliaferros  (pronounced  Tollivers), 
the  Campbells,  the  Barnetts,  the  Toombses,  the  Doolys, 
and  many  other  families  whose  names  have  figured  in 
the  history  of  the  country.  Here  also  settled  James 
Jack,  the  sturdy  patriot  who  volunteered  to  carry  the 
Mecklenburg  Declaration  of  Independence  to  Philadel- 
phia. The  Congress  then  in  session  chose  to  shut  its 
eyes  to  that  declaration,  but  it  was  the  basis  and 
framework  of  the  Declaration  afterwards  written  by 
Thomas  Jefferson. 

After  the  Revolution,  when  the  Cherokees  went  on 
the  warpath,  the  Virginia  settlement  was  in  a  state  of 
great  alarm.  Men,  women,  and  children  met  together, 
and  decided  that  it  would  be  safer  to  camp  in  the  woods 
in  a  body  at  night  rather  Jhan  run  the  risk  of  being 
burned  to  death  in  houses  that  they  could  not  defend. 
They  went  into  the  depths  of  the  woods  and  made  an 
encampment.  One  night  while  they  were  around  a  fire, 
cooking  their  supper,  suddenly  the  report  of  a  gun  was 
heard,  and  then  there  was  a  cry  of  "  Indians  !  "  The 
men  seized  their  guns ;  but  they  hardly  knew  where  to 
turn,  or  what  to  do.  Suddenly  a  lad  who  had  not  lost  his 
head  emptied  a  bucket  of  water  on  the  fire.  This  was 
the  thing  to  do,  but  no  one  else  had  thought  of  it.  The 


152 

name  of  the  lad  was  Meriwether  Lewis.  He  went  into 
the  regular  army,  became  the  private  secretary  of  Presi- 
dent Jefferson,  and  was  selected  to  head  the  party 
that  explored  the  Territory  of  Louisiana,  which  had 
been  bought  from  France.  Meriwether  Lewis  selected 
for  his  companion  Captain  Clark,  an  old  army  friend 
and  comrade.  Leading  the  party,  Lewis  and  his 
friend  Clark  left  St.  Louis,  and  pushed  westward  to  the 
Pacific  coast,  through  dangers  and  obstacles  that  few 
men  would  have  cared  to  meet.  The  famous  expe- 
dition of  Lewis  and  Clark  has  now  become  a  part  of 
the  history  of  the  country.  Lewis  took  possession  of 
the  Pacific  coast  in  the  name  of  the  United  States. 
There  was  a  controversy  with  Great  Britain  some  years 
afterwards  as  to  the  title  of  Oregon,  but  that  which 
Lewis  and  Clark  had  established  was  finally  acknowl- 
edged to  be  the  best. 

Meriwether  Lewis  won  a  name  in  history  because  the 
opportunity  came  to  him.  His  name  is  mentioned  here 
because  he  was  a  representative  of  the  men  who  settled 
Upper  Georgia,  —  the  men  who  kept  the  fires  of  liberty 
alive  in  the  State,  and  wjjo,  after  helping  to  conquer 
the  British  and  the  Tories,  became  the  conquerors  of 
the  wilderness  that  lay  to  the  west  of  them.  From 
Wilkes,  Burke,  Elbert,  and  the  region  where  Clarke 
and  his  men  had  fought,  the  tide  of  emigration  slowly 
moved  across  the  State,  settling  Greene,  Hancock,  Bald- 
win, Putnam,  Morgan,  Jasper,  Butts,  Monroe,  Coweta, 
Upson,  Pike,  Meriwether,  Talbot,  Harris,  and  Muscogee 
counties. 

Some    of   the   more   adventurous    crossed   the  Chat- 


153 

tahoochee  into  Alabama,  and  on  into  the  great  Missis- 
sippi Valley  and  beyond.  Their  descendants  live  in 
every  part  of  the  South  ;  and  Alabama,  Mississippi, 
and  Texas  have  had  Georgians  for  their  governors,  and 
their  senators  and  representatives  in  Congress,  —  men 
who  were  descended  from  the  Virginia  and  North  Caro- 
lina immigrants.  One  of  the  most  brilliant  of  these  was 
Mirabeau  B.  Lamar,  scholar,  statesman,  and  soldier,  the 
president  of  Texas  when  that  Territory  had  declared 
itself  a  free  and  an  independent  republic. 


THE   COTTON    GIN. 

BRIEF  mention  has  been  made  of  Whitney's  inven- 
tion of  the  cotton  gin.  The  event  was  of  such 
world-wide  importance  that  the  story  should  be  told  here. 
Whitney,  the  inventor  of  the  gin,  was  born  in  Massachu- 
setts in  1765,  in  very  poor  circumstances.  While  the 
War  of  the  Revolution  was  going  on,  he  was  earning 
his  living  by  making  nails  by  hand.  He  was  such  an 
apt  mechanic  that  he  was  able  to  make  and  save  enough 
money  to  pay  his  way  through  Yale  College,  where  he 
graduated  in  1792.  In  that  year  he  engaged  himself 
to  come  to  Georgia  as  a  private  tutor  in  the  family  of 
a  gentleman  of  Savannah ;  but  when  he  reached  that 
city,  he  found  that  the  place  had  been  rilled. 

While  in  Savannah,  Whitney  attracted  the  attention 
of  the  widow  of  General  Nathanael  Greene,  who  lived 
at  Mulberry  Grove,  on  the  river  at  no  great  distance 
from  the  city.  Mrs.  Greene  invited  the  young  man  to 
make  his  home  on  her  plantation.  He  soon  found 
opportunity  to  show  his  fine  mechanical  genius,  and 
Mrs.  Greene  became  more  interested  in  him  than  ever. 

The  story  goes,  that  soon  after  the  young  man  had 
established  himself  on  the  Mulberry  Grove  Plantation, 
several  Georgia  planters  were  dining  with  Mrs.  Greene. 
During  their  conversation  the  difficulty  of  removing  the 

154 


155 

seed  from  the  cotton  fiber  was  mentioned,  and  the  sug- 
gestion was  made  that  this  might  be  done  by  machinery. 
At  this  Mrs.  Greene  mentioned  the  skill  and  ingenuity 
of  young  Whitney,  and  advised  her  guests  that  he 
should  be  given  the  problem  to  solve.  This  advice  was 
followed.  The  planters  had  a  talk  with  the  young  man, 
and  explained  to  him  the  difficulty  which  they  found 
in  separating  the  seed  from  the  lint. 

At  that  time  one  pound  of  lint  cotton  was  all  that  a 
negro  worftan  could  separate  from  the  seed  in  a  day ; 
and  the  more  cotton  the  planters  raised,  the  deeper 
they  got  in  debt.  The  close  of  the  war  had  found  them 
in  a  state  of  the  utmost  poverty,  so  that  they  had  been 
compelled  to  mortgage  their  lands  in  order  to  get  money 
on  which  to  begin  business.  Cotton  was  the  only  prod- 
uct of  the  farm  for  which  there  was  any  constant  demand  ; 
but,  owing  to  the  labor  of  separating  the  lint  from  the 
seed,  it  could  not  be  raised  at  a  profit.  Thus,  in  1791,  the 
number  of  pounds  exported  from  the  South  to  Europe 
amounted  to  only  about  379  bales  of  500  pounds  each. 

When  the  planters  went  to  Whitney  with  their  prob- 
lem, he  was  entirely  ignorant  of  the  whole  matter.  He 
knew  nothing  of  cotton  or  of  cotton  planting ;  but  he  at 
once  set  himself  at  work.  He  made  a  careful  study  of 
the  cotton  plant.  He  shut  himself  in  a  room  with  some 
uncleaned  cotton,  and  worked  at  his  task  during  a  whole 
winter.  He  made  his  own  tools  at  the  plantation  black- 
smith shop ;  and  all  day  long,  and  sometimes  far  into 
the  night,  he  could  be  heard  hammering  and  sawing 
away. 

In  1793  he  called  together  the  planters  who  had  asked 


56 


him  to  solve  the  problem,  and  showed  them  the  machine, 
which  he  called  a  cotton  gin.  When  they  saw  it  work, 
their  surprise  and  delight  knew  no  bounds.  They  knew 

at  once  that  the  prob- 
lem had  been  solved  by 
the  young  genius  from 
Massachusetts.  Little 
calculation  was  needed 
to  show  them  that  the 
cotton  gin  could  clean 
as  much  cotton  in  a  day 
as  could  be  cleaned  on 
a  plantation  during  a 
whole  winter.  What  be- 
fore had  been  the  work 
of  a  hundred  hands  for 
several  months  could 
now  be  completed  in  a 
few  days. 

But  it  seems  to  be 
the  fate  of  the  majority 
of  those  who  make  won- 
derful inventions  never 
to  enjoy  the  full  benefits 
of  the  work  of  their 
genius.  Eli  Whitney 

was  not  an  exception  to  the  general  rule.  While  he  was 
working  on  his  cotton  gin,  rumors  of  it  went  abroad  ; 
and  by  the  time  it  was  completed,  public  expectation 
was  on  tiptoe.  When  the  machine  was  finished,  it  was 
shown  to  only  a  few  people ;  but  the  fact,  of  such  im- 


157 

mense  importance  to  the  people  of  the  State,  was  soon 
known  throughout  the  State,  and  the  planters  impa- 
tiently waited  for  the  day  when  they  would  be  able  to 
put  it  in  use. 

One  night  the  building  in  which  Whitney's  cotton 
gin  was  concealed  was  broken  into,  ransacked,  and 
the  machine  carried  off.  It  was  a  bold  robbery,  and 
a  very  successful  one.  The  inventor  made  haste  to 
build  another  gin  ;  but  before  he  could  get  his  model 
completed,  and  obtain  a  patent  right  to  the  invention, 
the  machine  had  been  manufactured  at  various  points 
in  the  South  by  other  parties,  and  was  in  operation 
on  several  plantations.  Whitney  formed  a  partnership 
with  a  gentleman  who  had  some  capital,  and  went 
to  Connecticut  to  manufacture  his  gin ;  but  he  was 
compelled  to  spend  all  the  money  he  could  make, 
fighting  lawsuits.  His  patent  had  been  infringed,  and 
those  who  sought  to  rob  him  of  the  fruits  of  his  labor 
took  a  bold  stand.  The  result  of  all  this  was,  that  the 
inventor  never  received  any  just  compensation  for  a 
machine  that  revolutionized  the  commerce  of  the  coun- 
try, and  added  enormously  to  the  power  and  progress  of 
the  Republic.  Lord  Macaulay  said  that  Eli  Whitney 
did  more  to  make  the  United  States  powerful  than 
Peter  the  Great  did  to  make  the  Russian  Empire  domi- 
nant. Robert  Fulton  declared  that  Arkwright,  Watt, 
and  Whitney  were  the  three  men  that  did  more  for 
mankind  than  any  of  their  contemporaries.  This  is 
easy  to  believe,  when  we  remember  that  while  the 
South  shipped  6  bags  of  cotton  to  England  in  1786, 
and  only  379  in  1791,  ten  years  after  the  cotton  gin 


153 

came  into  use,  82,000  bales  were  exported.  The  very 
importance  of  Whitney's  invention  made  it  immensely 
profitable  for  the  vicious  and  the  depraved  to  seize 
and  appropriate  the  inventor's  rights.  These  robberies 
were  upheld  by  those  who  were  anxious  to  share  in 
the  profits ;  and  political  demagogues  made  themselves 
popular  by  misrepresenting  Whitney,  and  clamoring 
against  the  law  that  was  intended  to  protect  him.  It 
was  only  by  means  of  this  clamor,  half  political  and 
wholly  dishonest,  that  the  plain  rights  of  Whitney 
could  be  denied  and  justice  postponed.  His  invention 
was  entirely  new.  It  was  distinct  from  every  other. 
It  had  no  connection  with  and  no  relation  to  any  other 
invention  that  had  been  made.  It  stood  alone,  and 
there  could  be  no  difficulty  whatever  in  identifying  it. 
And  yet  Whitney  had  just  this  difficulty.  In  his  efforts 
to  prove  that  he  was  the  inventor  of  the  cotton  gin, 
and  that  he  was  entitled  to  a  share  of  the  immense 
profits  that  those  who  used  it  were  reaping,  he  had 
to  travel  thousands  of  miles,  and  spend  thousands  of 
dollars  in  appearing  before  Legislatures  and  in  courts 
that  denied  him  justice.  The  life  of  his  patent  had 
nearly  expired  before  any  court  finally  enforced  his 
right,  and  Congress  refused  to  grant  him  an  extension 
beyond  the  fourteen  years  that  had  then  nearly  expired. 
Associations  and  combinations  had  been  formed  for 
the  purpose  of  defrauding  Whitney,  and  these  were 
represented  by  the  ablest  lawyers  that  could  be  hired. 
It  is  no  wonder  that  Whitney,  in  writing  to  Robert 
Fulton,  a  brother  inventor,  declared  that  the  troubles 
he  had  to  contend  with  were  the  result  of  a  lack  of 


159 

desire  on  the  part  of  mankind  to  see  justice  done. 
The  truth  is,  his  invention  was  of  such  prime  impor- 
tance that  the  public  fought  for  its  possession,  and 
justice  and  honesty  were  for  the  moment  lost  sight  of. 
At  one  time  but  a  few  men  in  Georgia  were  bold  enough 
to  go  into  court  and  testify  to  the  simplest  facts  within 
their  knowledge ;  and  Whitney  himself  says,  that  in 
one  instance  he  had  the  greatest  difficulty  in  proving 
that  the  machine  had  been  used  in  Georgia,  although 
at  that  very  moment  three  separate  gins  were  at  work 
within  fifty  yards  of  the  building  in  which  the  court 
sat.  They  were  all  so  near,  that  the  rattle  and  hum 
of  the  machinery  could  be  heard  from  the  court-house 
steps. 

In  December,  1807,  a  judge  was  found  to  affirm  the 
rights  of  Whitney  under  his  patent.  The  judge's  name 
was  Johnson  ;  and  in  his  decision  he  said,  "  The  whole 
interior  of  the  Southern  States  was  languishing,  and 
its  inhabitants  emigrating  for  want  of  some  object  to 
engage  their  attention  and  employ  their  industry,  when 
the  invention  of  this  machine  at  once  opened  views 
to  them  which  set  the  whole  country  in  active  motion. 
From  childhood  to  age  it  has  presented  to  us  a  lucrative 
employment.  Individuals  who  were  depressed  with 
poverty,  and  sunk  in  idleness,  have  suddenly  risen 
to  wealth  and  respectability.  Our  debts  have  been 
paid  off.  Our  capital  has  increased,  and  our  lands 
have  trebled  themselves  in  value.  We  cannot  express 
the  weight  of  the  obligation  which  the  country  owes 
to  this  invention.  The  extent  of  it  cannot  now  be 
seen." 


i6o 

The  language  of  the  learned  judge  was  high-flown ; 
but  he  was  a  just  judge,  and  he  had  a  faint  and  glim- 
mering idea  of  the  real  importance  of  this  remarkable 
invention.  It  was  a  very  simple  affair.  The  principle 
came  to  Whitney  in  a  flash,  and  he  had  a  model  con- 
structed within  ten  days  after  the  despairing  planters 
had  gone  to  him  with  their  problem.  But  it  may  be 
doubted  whether  any  other  individual,  by  one  simple 
invention,  ever  did  so  much  for  the  progress  and  en- 
richment of  human  interests,  and  for  the  welfare  and 
the  comfort  of  the  human  race.  This  little  machine 
made  the  agriculture  of  the  South  the  strongest  and 
the  richest  in  the  world,  and  gave  to  this  section  a 
political  power  that  was  for  years  supreme  in  the 
nation,  and  was  only  surrendered  as  the  result  of  a 
long  and  exhausting  war.  By  means  of  the  cotton 
gin,  towns  and  cities  have  sprung  up,  and  a  vast  net- 
work of  railways  has  been  built ;  and  yet  the  most  that 
Whitney  received  was  a  royalty  on  his  gin  in  North 
Carolina,  and  a  donation  of  fifty  thousand  dollars  from 
the  State  of  South  Carolina.  In  Georgia  his  right  to 
his  invention  was  stolen,  and  all  that  he  got  out  of  it 
was  a  number  of  costly  lawsuits. 

After  struggling  for  five  years  against  the  over- 
whelming odds  that  avarice  and  greed  had  mustered 
to  aid  them,  Whitney  turned  his  attention  in  another 
direction,  and  made  a  still  more  remarkable  display  of 
his  genius.  This  part  of  his  career  does  not  belong 
directly  to  the  history  of  Georgia,  but  it  is  interesting 
enough  to  be  briefly  recorded  here.  The  United  States 
Government  was  in  want  of  arms,  and  this  want  various 


contractors  had  failed  to  meet.  Through  the  influence 
of  the  secretary  of  the  treasury,  Whitney  was  given 
a  contract  to  make  ten  thousand  muskets  at  $13.40 
apiece.  He  had  no  capital,  no  works,  no  machinery, 
no  tools,  no  skilled  workmen,  no  raw  material.  In 
creating  a  part  of  these  and  commanding  the  rest,  he 
called  into  play  an  inventive  genius,  the  extent  of  which 
must  always  excite  wonder  and  admiration. 

Within  ten  years  he  created  his  own  works,  and  in- 
vented and  made  his  own  tools,  invented  and  made  his 
own  machinery.  More  than  this,  he  invented  and  ap- 
plied a  wholly  new  principle  of  manufacture,  —  a  prin- 
ciple that  has  done  more  to  advance  human  industry 
and  increase  wealth  all  over  the  world  than  any  other 
known  effort  of  the  human  mind  to  solve  material 
problems.  He  invented  and  developed  the  principle 
or  system  of  making  the  various  parts  of  a  musket  or 
any  other  complex  manufactured  article,  such  as  the 
sewing  machine,  so  absolutely  uniform  as  to  be  inter- 
changeable. This  principle  has  been  carried  out  in 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  different  ways.  It  has 
entered  into  and  become  a  feature  of  a  vast  range  of 
manufactures.  The  principle  was  established  by  a 
series  of  inventions  as  wonderful  as  any  that  the 
human  mind  ever  conceived,  so  that  Whitney  has 
been  aptly  called  the  Shakespeare  of  invention.  His 
inventions  remain  practically  unchanged.  After  ninety 
years  of  trial,  they  are  found  to  be  practically  perfect. 

It  was  his  peculiar  gift  to  be  able  to  convey  into 
inanimate  machinery  the  skill  that  a  human  being 
could  acquire  only  after  years  of  study  and  practice. 

STO.  OF  GA.  —  II 


1 62 

It  is  almost  like  belittling  the  greatest  of  marvels  to 
call  it  a  stroke  of  genius.  He  made  it  possible  for  the 
most  ordinary  laborer  to  accomplish  a  hundred  times  as 
much  in  an  hour,  and  with  the  most  exquisite  perfec- 
tion, as  a  skilled  laborer  could  accomplish  in  a  day. 

On  these  wonderful  inventions  Whitney  took  out 
no  patents.  He  gave  them  all  to  the  public.  In  this 
way  he  revenged  himself  on  those  who  had  successfully 
robbed  him  of  the  fruits  of  his  labor  and  genius  "in  the 
invention  of  the  cotton  gin.  Perhaps  if  he  had  been 
more  justly  treated  in  Georgia,  he  might  have  set  up 
his  works  in  this  State,  and  this  fact  might  have  made 
the  South  the  seat  of  great  manufacturing  industries. 
Who  knows  ? 


SOME    GEORGIA    INVENTIONS. 

THE  credit  of  inventing  the  steamboat  is  by  general 
consent  given  to  Robert  Fulton.  Every  school- 
boy is  taught  that  such  is  the  case,  and  yet  the  fact 
is  at  least  very  doubtful.  There  is  preserved  among 
the  papers  in  the  Archives  of  Georgia  a  document  that 
indicates,  that,  while  Robert  Fulton  has  won  the  credit 
for  an  invention  that  has  revolutionized  the  commerce 
of  the  world,  the  real  inventor  may  have  been  William 
Longstreet  of  Augusta,  an  uncle  of  General  James  B. 
Longstreet,  and  the  father  of  Judge  A.  B.  Longstreet, 
author  of  "  Georgia  Scenes."  On  the  26th  of  Septem- 
ber, 1 790,  William  Longstreet  sent  the  following  letter 
to  Edward  Telfair,  who  was  then  governor  of  Georgia:  — 

SIR,  —  I  make  no  doubt  but  you  have  heard  of  my  steamboat 
and  as  often  heard  it  laughed  at.  But  in  this  I  have  only  shared 
the  fate  of  all  other  projectors,  for  it  has  uniformly  been  the  custom 
of  every  country  to  ridicule  even  the  greatest  inventions  until  use 
has  proved  their  utility. 

My  not  reducing  my  scheme  to  practice  has  been  a  little  un- 
fortunate for  me,  I  confess,  and  perhaps  for  the  people  in  general, 
but  until  very  lately  I  did  not  think  that  either  artists  or  material 
could  be  had  in  the  place  sufficient.  However,  necessity,  that 
grand  science  of  invention,  has  furnished  me  with  an  idea  of  per- 
fecting my  plans  almost  entirely  with  wooden  materials,  and  by 
such  workmen  as  may  be  got  here,  and  from  a  thorough  confidence 
of  its  success,  I  have  presumed  to  ask  your  assistance  and  patronage. 

163 


164 

Should  it  succeed  agreeable  to  my  expectations,  I  hope  I  shall  dis- 
cover that  source  of  duty  which  such  favors  always  merit,  and  should 
it  not  succeed,  your  reward  must  lay  with  other  unlucky  adventurers. 

For  me  to  mention  to  you  all  the  advantages  arising  from  such 
a  machine  would  be  tedious,  and,  indeed,  quite  unnecessary. 
Therefore  I  have  taken  the  liberty  to  state  in  this  plain  and  humble 
manner  my  wish  and  opinion,  which  I  hope  you  will  excuse,  and  I 
will  remain,  either  with  or  without  approbation, 

Your  Excellency's  most  obedient  and  very  humble  servant, 

WILLIAM  LONGSTREET, 

There  are  two  features  of  this  letter  that  ought  to 
attract  attention.  One  is  that  William  Longstreet  has 
the  name  of  "  steamboat  "  as  pat  as  if  the  machine  were 
in  common  use.  The  second  is  his  allusion  to  the  fact 
that  his  conception  of  a  boat  to  be  propelled  by  steam 
was  so  well  known  as  to  be  noised  abroad. 

Credit  is  sometimes  given  to  John  Fitch,  who,  it  is 
said,  invented  a  boat  propelled  by  steam,  that  carried 
passengers  on  the  Delaware  River  in  1787.  An  Eng- 
lishman named  Symington  is  said  to  have  run  a  steam- 
boat in  1 80 1,  while  Robert  Fulton's  success  was  delayed 
until  1806.  All  these  men  have  received  credit  for 
their  efforts  to  benefit  humanity,  but  history  is  silent 
in  regard  to  William  Longstreet.  In  one  book  about 
Georgia  the  remark  is  made  that  "  James  Longstreet  is 
said  to  have  invented  the  steamboat  in  1793,"  but  in 
this  instance  neither  the  name  nor  the  date  is  correct. 

In  old  St.  Paul's  churchyard  in  Augusta  there  is  a 
tombstone  which  bears  the  inscription,  "  Sacred  to  the 
memory  of  William  Longstreet,  who  departed  this  life 
September  I,  1814,  aged  54  years,  10  months,  and  26 
days."  Below  this  runs  the  pleasant  legend,  "All  the 


days  of  the  afflicted  are  evil,  but  he  that  is  of  a  merry 
heart  hath  a  continual  feast."  '  We  are  thus  left  to 
infer  that  William  Longstreet  was  a  man  of 'a  merry 
heart ;  and  that  fact  is  certified  to  by  the  cleverness 
with  which  his  son,  the  author  of  "  Georgia  Scenes," 
has  preserved  for  us  some  of  the  quaint  characters 
that  lived  and  moved  and  had  their  being  on  the 
borders  of  Georgia  society  directly  after  the  Revolution, 
inventor,  a  man  of 

•\  ' 


Being    an 


ingenious  ideas,  and  some- 
what ambitious  of  serv- 
ing the  public  in  that 
way,  William  Long- 
street  certainly  had 
need   of .  a    merry 
heart ;    for,  as  he 
himself   says,    the 
way   of    the    pro- 
jector     is      hard. 
The  term  itself  is 

used  in  Georgia  to  this  day  to  express 
a  certain  sort  of  good-natured  contempt. 
Go  into  the  country  places  and  ask  after  some  acquaint- 
ance who  has  not  prospered  in  a  worldly  way,  and  the 
answer  will  be,  "  Oh,  he's  just  a  prodjikin  around." 

It  is  certain  that  William  Longstreet  knew  that  steam 
could  be  used  as  a  motive  power  long  before  it  was  so 
applied ;  and  because  he  employed  a  good  deal  of  his 
time,in  trying  to  discover  the  principle,  he  was  ridiculed 
by  his  neighbors  and  friends,  and  the  more  thoughtless 
among  them  didn't  know  whether  he  was  a  crank,  a  half- 


1 66 

wit,  or  a  "luny."  From  all  accounts,  he  was  a  modest, 
shy,  retiring  man,  though  a  merry  one.  He  had  but 
little  money  to  devote  to  the  experiments  he  wished 
to  make,  and  in  this  was  not  different  from  the  great 
majority  of  inventors. 

For  a  long  time  Longstreet's  zeal  and  enthusiasm 
attracted  the  attention  of  a  few  of  his  wealthy  friends, 
and  these  furnished  him  such  money  as  he  wanted ;  but 
no  very  long  time  was  needed  to  convince  those  who 
were  spending  their  money  that  the  idea  of  propelling 
a  boat  by  steam,  instead  of  by  sails  or  oars,  was  ridicu- 
lous. Longstreet  made  many  experiments,  but  he  had 
not  hit  upon  the  method  of  applying  the  principle  he 
had  in  mind :  consequently  his  rich  friends  closed  their 
purses,  and  left  him  entirely  to  his  own  resources.  A 
newspaper  publication,  in  giving  some  of  the  facts  in 
regard  to  Longstreet's  efforts,  says  that  he  and  his 
steamboat  were  made  the  subject  of  a  comic  song:  — 

"  Can  you  row  the  boat  ashore, 

Billy  boy,  Billy  boy? 
Can  you  row  the  boat  ashore, 

Gentle  Billy? 

Can  you  row  the  boat  ashore 
Without  a  paddle  or  an  oar, 

Billyboy?" 

Though  he  had  failed  many  times,  Longstreet  was 
not  disheartened.  He  continued  his  experiments,  and 
at  last  succeeded  in  making  a  toy  boat,  which  he  exhib- 
ited to  a  few  friends.  His  idea  at  this  time,  it  seems, 
was  not  to  construct  a  steamboat,  but  merely  to  con- 
vince some  of  his  friends  that  steam  could  be  used  as  a 


i67 

motive  power.  But  in  this  he  was  not  very  successful. 
His  toy  boat  did  all  that  he  wanted  it  to  do ;  but  his 
friends  declared,  that  while  steam  might  be  used  to 
move  a  small  boat,  it  could  never  be  used  to  move  a 
large  one.  The  experience  of  a  new  generation  showed 
that  there  was  one  wise  man  in  Augusta  and  a  great 
many  fools.  Nevertheless  William  Longstreet  deter- 
mined to  show  that  a  large  boat  could  be  moved  by  a 
large  amount  of  steam  as  easily  as  a  small  boat  could 
be  moved  by  a  small  volume. 

Now,  while  he  was  making  his  experiments,  and  try- 
ing to  overcome  the  difficulties  that  presented  them- 
selves, Robert  Fulton  was  living  in  Paris  with  Joel 
Barlow.  He  was  in  Paris  when  Napoleon  became  first 
consul.  At  that  time  he  was  experimenting  with  his  div- 
ing boat  and  submarine  torpedo.  Napoleon  was  so  much 
interested  in  this  work  that  he  gave  Fulton  ten  thou- 
sand francs  to  carry  it  on.  The  inventor  was  in  France 
in  1803  when  Napoleon  organized  his  army  for  the 
invasion  of  England.  He  was  surrounded  by  influen- 
tial friends,  and  he  had  money  at  his  command. 

Compared  with  William  Longstreet,  Robert  Fulton 
was  "  in  clover."  Longstreet  was  compelled  to  work 
without  money,  and  in  the  midst  of  a  community  whose 
curiosity  had  developed  into  criticism  and  ridicule. 
Thus  it  was  not  until  1806  that  he  succeeded  in  com- 
pleting a  steamboat  that  would  accommodate  twenty  or 
twenty-five  persons.  He  went  on  board,  accompanied 
by  such  of  his  friends  as  he  could  persuade,  and  in  the 
presence  of  a  curious  and  doubting  crowd  the  first  real 
steamboat  was  launched  on  the  Savannah  River.  Some 


1 68 

of  the  friends  of  those  on  board,  feeling  anxious  for 
their  safety  if  the  "  contraption "  should  explode, 
secured  a  skiff,  and  followed  the  steamboat  at  a  safe 
distance,  ready  to  pick  up  such  of  the  passengers  as 
might  survive  when  the  affair  had  blown  to  pieces. 
Longstreet  headed  the  boat  down  the  river,  and  went 
in  that  direction  for  several  miles.  Then  he  turned  the 
head  of  the  little  boat  upstream ;  and,  although  the 
current  was  swift,  he  carried  his  passengers  back  to 
the  wharf,  and  several  miles  above. 

From  that  hour  William  Longstreet  became  a  man 
of  some  consequence  in  the  community.  Those  who 
had  ridiculed  him  now  sang  his  praises,  and  those  who 
had  doubted  that  steam  could  be  used  as  a  motive  power 
were  now  convinced.  His  friends  tried  hard  to  get  him 
to  go  to  Washington  and  secure  the  benefits  of  a  patent 
for  his  invention  ;  but  he  persistently  refused  to  take  any 
steps  to  profit  by  the  results  of  his  genius,  or  indeed  to 
make  his  invention  known.  His  constant  reply  to  all 
those  who  tried  to  persuade  him  to  go  to  Washington 
was,  that  he  had  carried  on  his  experiments  simply  to 
prove  the  truth  of  his  theory  to  his  own  satisfaction, 
and  to  convince  those  whose  respect  he  coveted  that  he 
was  neither  a  fool  nor  a  crank. 

Some  of  his  friends  and  admirers  were  themselves 
preparing  to  go  to  Washington  in  behalf  of  the  in- 
ventor, but  they  had  put  off  their  journey  until  the 
year  after  the  exhibition  was  made  in  Augusta,  and  at 
that  time  they  heard  that  Robert  Fulton  had  exhibited 
his  steamboat  "Clermont"  on  the  Hudson  River.  They 
then  gave  up  their  design,  and  William  Longstreet 


169 

continued  to  remain  in  the  seclusion  that  was  so  pleas- 
ant to  him. 

It  is  a  noteworthy  fact,  that  twelve  years  after  Wil- 
liam Longstreet  made  his  successful  experiments  on 
the  Savannah  River,  Georgia  enterprise  built,  launched, 
and  managed  the  first  steamship  that  ever  crossed  the 
ocean.  This  great  enterprise  was  organized  in  Savan- 
nah in  1818.  The  Georgia  Company  contracted  to  have 
the  ship  built  in  New  York ;  and  when  completed,  it 
was  named  the  "  Savannah."  The  vessel  was  finished 
and  brought  to  Savannah  in  April,  1819.  In  May  the 
steamship  left  Savannah  bound  for  Liverpool.  From 
Liverpool  it  went  to  St.  Petersburg,  and  then  returned 
to  Savannah,  having  made  the  voyage  in  fifty  days. 

The  first  sewing  machine  was  invented  by  Rev.  Frank 
R.  Goulding,  a  Georgian  who  has  won  fame  among  the 
children  of  the  land  as  the  author  of  "  The  Young 
Marooners."  He  invented  the  sewing  machine  for 
the  purpose  of  lightening  the  labors  of  his  wife ;  and 
she  used  it  for  some  years  before  some  other  genius 
invented  it,  or  some  traveler  stole  the  idea  and  im- 
proved on  it. 

Dr.  Crawford  W.  Long,  in  1842,  when  twenty-seven 
years  of  age,  performed  the  first  painless  surgical  oper- 
ation that  is  known  to  history.  In  1839,  Velpeau  of 
Paris  declared  that  the  attempts  to  find  some  agent  by 
which  to  prevent  pain  in  surgical  operations  was  noth- 
ing less  than  chimerical;  and  as  late  as  1846  Sir  Benja- 
min Brodie  said,  "  Physicians  and  surgeons  have  been 
looking  in  vain,  from  the  days  of  Hippocrates  down  to 
the  present  time,  for  the  means  of  allaying  or  prevent- 


I/O 


ing  bodily  pain."  And  yet  three  years  after  the  decla- 
ration of  Velpeau,  and  four  years  before  the  statement 
of  Sir  Benjamin  Brodie,  the  young  Georgia  physician 
had  removed  a  tumor  from  the  neck  of  a  patient,  and 
that  patient  had  felt  no  pain. 

The  story  is  very  interesting.  Dr.  Crawford  W. 
Long  was  born  in  Danielsville,  Madison  County,  Ga., 
on  the  ist  of  November,  1815.  He  graduated  at 

the  University  of 
Georgia,  studied 
medicine,  and  grad- 
uated at  the  medical 
department  of  the 
University  of  Penn- 
sylvania. He  then 
went  to  Jefferson, 
Jackson  County, 
where  he  opened 
an  office,  and  prac- 
ticed medicine  for 
many  years. 

In  those  days  the 
young  men  living  in  the  country  districts,  for  want 
of  something  better  to  amuse  them,  were  in  the 
habit  of  inhaling  nitrous-oxide  gas,  or,  as  it  was 
then  popularly  known,  "laughing  gas."  The  young 
people  would  gather  together,  and  some  of  them 
would  inhale  the  gas  until  they  came  under  its  influ- 
ence. The  result  was  in  most  cases  very  amusing. 
Some  would  laugh,  some  would  cry,  and  all  in  various 
ways  would  carry  out  the  peculiarities  of  their  charac- 


ters  and  dispositions.  Thus,  if  a  young  man  had  an 
inward  inclination  to  preach,  he  would,  under  the  influ- 
ence of  "  laughing  gas,"  proceed  to  deliver  a  sermon. 
As  these  "  laughing-gas "  parties  were  exhilarating  to 
the  young  people  who  inhaled  the  gas,  and  amusing  to 
those  who  were  spectators,  they  became  very  popular. 

But  it  was  not  always  easy  to  secure  the  gas.  On 
one  occasion  a  company  of  young  men  went  to  t)r. 
Long's  office  and  asked  him  to  make  them  a  supply  of 
"laughing  gas."  There  was  no  apparatus  in  the  office 
suitable  for  making  it,  but  Dr.  Long  told  the  young 
men  that  the  inhalation  of  sulphuric  ether  would  have 
the  same  effect.  He  had  become  acquainted  with  this 
property  of  ether  while  studying  medicine  in  Philadel- 
phia. The  young  men  and  their  friends  were  so  well 
pleased  with  the  effects  of  ether  inhalation,  that  "  ether 
parties  "  became  fashionable  in  that  section,  as  well  as 
in  other  parts  of  the  State.  At  these  ether  parties,  Dr. 
Long  noticed  that  persons  who  received  injuries  while 
under  its  influence  felt  no  pain.  On  one  occasion  a 
young  man  received  an  injury  to  his  ankle  joint  that 
disabled  him  for  several  days,  and  he  told  Dr.  Long  that 
he  did  not  feel  the  slightest  pain  until  the  effects  of  the 
ether  had  passed  off.  Observing  these  facts,  Dr.  Long 
was  led  to  believe  that  surgical  operations  might  be 
performed  without  pain. 

Dr.  Long's  theory  was  formed  in  1841,  but  he  waited 
for  some  time  before  testing  it,  in  the  hope  that  a  case 
of  surgery  of  some  importance  —  the  amputation  of  an 
arm  or  a  leg  —  might  fall  in  his  practice.  On  the  3Oth 
of  March,  1842,  Dr.  Long  removed  a  tumor  from  the 


1/2 

neck  of  Mr.  James  M.  Venable.  On  the  6th  of  June, 
the  same  year,  another  small  tumor  was  removed  from 
the  neck  of  the  same  patient,  and  both  operations  were 
painless.  Mr.  Venable  inhaled  sulphuric  ether,  and  the 
effect  of  it  was  to  render  him  insensible  to  the  pain  of 
cutting  out  the  tumors. 

Dr.  Long  had  told  Mr.  Venable  that  he  would  charge 
little  or  nothing  for  removing  the  tumors  under  the 
influence  of  ether.  The  bill  rendered  for  both  opera- 
tions amounted  to  $4.50;  but,  small  as  the  bill  was,  it 
represented  the  discovery  and  application  of  ether  in 
surgical  practice,  —  one  of  the  greatest  boons  to  man- 
kind. Up  to  that  time  no  patient  under  the  surgeon's 
knife  had  ever  been  able  to  escape  the  horror  and  pain 
of  an  operation. 

Dr.  Long  did  not  at  once  print  the  facts  about  his 
discovery.  He  wanted  to  make  assurance  doubly  sure. 
He  waited  in  the  hope  of  having  an  important  case  of 
surgery  under  his  charge,  such  as  the  amputation  of  a 
leg  or  an  arm.  But  these  cases,  rare  at  any  time,  were 
still  rarer  at  that  time,  especially  in  the  region  where 
Dr.  Long  practiced.  He  finally  satisfied  himself,  how- 
ever, of  the  importance  of  his  discovery,  but,  having 
waited  until  1846,  found  that  at  least  three  persons  — 
Wells,  Jackson,  and  Morton  —  had  hit  on  the  same 
discovery,  and  had  made  publication  of  it.  Morton 
patented  ether  under  the  name  of  "  Letheon,"  and  in 
October,  1846,  administered  it  to  a  patient  in  the 
Massachusetts  General  Hospital. 

In  1844,  Horace  Wells,  a  native  of  Vermont,  discov- 
ered that  the  inhalation  of  nitrous-oxide  gas  produces 


anaesthesia.  He  was  a  dentist  He  gave  it  to  his 
patients,  and  was  able  to  perform  dental  operations 
without  causing  pain.  Thus  we  may  see  how  the  case 
stands.  Long  produced  anaesthesia  in  1842;  that  is  to 
say,  he  caused  his  patients  to  inhale  sulphuric  ether 
in  that  year,  whenever  he  had  a  painful  operation  to 
perform,  and  .in  each  case  the  operation  was  painless. 

In  1846,  when  the  surgeons  of  the  Massachusetts 
General  Hospital  performed  painless  operations  on 
patients,  after  administering  to  them  Morton's  patented 
"  Letheon,"  which  was  his  name  for  sulphuric  ether, 
there  came  about  a  great  war  of  pamphlets,  and  it 
ended  tragically.  Long  had  never  made  any  secret  of 
the  substance  which  he  used.  He  gave  information  of 
it  to  all  the  surgeons  and  doctors  with  whom  he  came  in 
contact ;  and  he  was  not  in  any  way  concerned  in  the 
conflict  that  was  carried  on  by  Jackson,  Morton,  and 
Wells.  He  simply  gathered  together  the  facts  of  his 
discovery,  proved  that  he  was  the  first  physician  to  per- 
form painless  operations  in  surgery,  and  that  was  the 
end  of  it  so  far  as  he  was  concerned. 

Wells  became  insane,  and  committed  suicide  in  New 
York  in  1848.  Morton  died  in  New  York  City  of  con- 
gestion of  the  brain.  Jackson  ended  his  days  in  an 
insane  asylum. 

In  Boston  a  monument  has  been  erected  to  the  dis- 
coverer of  anaesthesia.  The  name  of  Crawford  W. 
Long  should  stand  first  upon  it,  and  should  be  followed 
by  the  names  of  Wells,  Morton,  and  Jackson. 


THE    EARLY    PROGRESS    OF    THE    STATE. 


AFTER     the 
invention  of 
the    cotton   gin, 
the     progress 
of     the     people 
and    the    devel- 
opment    of     the 
agriculture    of 
the  State  went  forward 
very  rapidly.    The  popu- 
lation began  to  increase. 
The  movement   of   families 
from     Virginia     and     North 
Carolina  grew  constantly  larger. 
In  Virginia,   and  in   settled   por- 
tions  of    North  Carolina,  it  was 
found    that    the    soil    and   climate 
were    not    favorable  to   the    growth 
of  the  cotton  plant:  consequently  hun- 
dreds of  families  left  their  homes  in  these 
States,  and  came  to  Georgia. 

When  Oglethorpe  settled  the  Colony,  the  charter 
under  which  he  acted  prohibited  the  introduction  and 
use  of  negro  slaves  in  the  Colony.  It  is  hard  to  say  at 


175 

this  late  day  whether  this  portion  of  the  charter  was 
dictated  by  feelings  of  humanity,  especially  when  we  re- 
member that  in  those  days,  and  in  most  of  the  Colonies, 
there  were  many  white  people  —  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren—  employed  and  used  as  slaves.  From  the  very 
first,  many  of  the  Georgia  colonists  were  anxious  to 
introduce  negro  slaves,  but  the  trustees  firmly  refused 
to  allow  it.  There  was  a  strong  party  in  favor  of  intro- 
ducing negroes,  and  those  who  opposed  the  movement 
presently  found  themselves  in  a  very  small  and  unpopu- 
lar minority.  By  1 748  the  excitement  over  the  question 
had  grown  so  great,  that  those  colonists  who  were  op- 
posed to  negro  slavery  were  compelled  to  abandon  their 
position.  Rev.  Mr.  Whitefield,  the  eloquent  preacher, 
had  already  bought  and  placed  negro  slaves  at  his 
Orphan  House  at  Bethesda,  near  Savannah.  The  colo- 
nists had  also  treated  this  part  of  the  charter  with 
contempt.  They  pretended  to  hire  negroes'  homes  in 
South  Carolina  for  a  hundred  years,  or  during  life. 
They  paid  the  "hire"  in  advance,  the  sum  being  the 
full  value  of  the  slaves.  Finally  negroes  were  bought 
openly  from  traders  in  Savannah.  Some  of  them  were 
seized ;  but  a  majority  of  the  magistrates  were  in  favor 
of  the  introduction  of  negroes,  and  they  were  able  to 
postpone  legal  decisions  from  time  to  time. 

Rev.  George  Whitefield,  whose  wonderful  eloquence 
has  made  his  name  famous,  and  Hon.  James  Haber- 
sham,  had  great  influence  with  the  trustees ;  and  it  was 
mainly  due  to  their  efforts  that  the  colonists  were 
legally  allowed  to  purchase  and  use  negro  slaves.  Mr. 
Habersham  affirmed  that  the  Colony  could  not  prosper 


1 76 

without  slave  labor.  Rev.  Mr.  Whitefield,  on  the  other 
hand,  was  in  favor  of  negro  slavery  on  the  broad  ground 
of  philanthropy.  He  boldly  declared  that  it  would  be 
of  great  advantage  to  the  African  to  be  brought  from 
his  barbarous  surroundings  and  placed  among  civilized 
Christians.  When  we  remember  what  has  happened, 
who  can  deny  that  the  remark  of  the  eloquent  preacher 
was  not  more  to  the  purpose,  and  nearer  to  the  truth, 
than  some  of  the  modern  statements  about  American 
slavery  ?  What  really  happened  (as  any  one  may  discover 
by  looking  into  impartial  history)  was,  that  thousands 
of  negroes  who  had  been  captured  in  battle,  and  made 
slaves  of  in  their  own  country,  were  taken  from  that 
dark  land  and  brought  into  the  light  of  Christian  civili- 
zation. Their  condition,  mentally  and  morally,  was  so 
improved,  that,  in  little  more  than  a  century  after  White- 
field  made  his  statement,  the  government  of  the  United 
States  ventured  to  make  citizens  of  them.  The  con- 
trast between  their  condition  and  that  of  the  negroes 
who  remained  in  Africa  is  so  startling,  that  a  well- 
known  abolitionist,  writing  twenty  years  after  emanci- 
pation, has  described  slavery  as  a  great  university, 
which  the  negroes  entered  as  barbarians,  and  came  out 
of  as  Christians  and  citizens. 

The  efforts  of  the  Colony  to  secure  a  repeal  of  the 
act  prohibiting  slavery  were  successful.  The  trustees 
in  London  concluded  that  it  would  be  better  to  permit 
slavery,  with  such  restrictions  and  limitations  as  might 
be  proper,  than  to  permit  the  wholesale  violations  that 
were  then  going  on;  and  so  in  1749  the  colonists  of 
Georgia  were  allowed  by  law  to  own  and  use  negro  slaves. 


177 

Thus,  when  the  cotton  gin  came  fairly  into  use, 
slavery  had  been  legally  allowed  in  Georgia  for  nearly 
half  a  century.  The  rest  of  the  Colonies  had  long  en- 
joyed that  privilege.  The  cotton  gin,  therefore,  had  a 
twofold  effect,  —  it  increased  the  cotton  crop  and  the 
value  of  the  lands,  and  it  also  increased  the  use  of 
negro  slaves.  The  Virginians  and  North  Carolinians, 
who  came  to  Georgia,  brought  their  slaves  with  them ; 
and  the  Georgians,  as  their  crops  became  profitable,  laid 
out  their  surplus  cash  in  buying  more  negroes.  The 
slave  trade  became  very  prosperous,  and  both  Old 
England  and  New  England  devoted  a  large  amount  of 
capital  and  enterprise  to  this  branch  of  commerce. 

As  the  population  increased,  and  the  cotton  crop 
became  more  valuable,  the  demand  for  land  became 
keener.  To  this  fact  was  due  the  intense  excitement 
kindled  by  the  Yazoo  Fraud  in  1794.  The  cotton  gin 
had  been  introduced  the  year  before,  and  the  people 
were  beginning  to  see  and  appreciate  the  influence  the 
invention  would  have  on  their  prosperity.  Instead  of 
selling  land  to  speculators,  they  wanted  to  keep  it  for 
themselves  and  children,  or  at  least  to  get  something 
like  its  real  value. 

The  cotton  gin  had  increased  not  only  the  demand 
for  negro  slaves,  but  also  the  demand  for  land ;  and 
indirectly  it  was  the  cause  of  the  various  troubles  the 
State  had  with  the  Indians  after  the  close  of  the  War 
for  Independence.  The  troubles  with  the  Indians  also 
led  finally  to  serious  misunderstandings  between  the 
United  States  Government  and  that  of  Georgia.  In 
May,  1796,  a  treaty  was  made  between  the  United 

STO.  OF  GA. —  12 


1 78 

States  and  the  Creeks.  This  treaty  created  some  indig- 
nation among  the  people,  and  was  denounced  as  an 
interference  by  the  General  Government  with  State 
affairs.  The  lands  which  the  Indians  ceded  to  the 
United  States  were  a  part  of  the  Territory  of  Georgia, 
and  the  transaction  gave  rise  to  much  discussion  and 
considerable  bad  feeling. 

In  ten  years,  from  1790  to  1800,  the  population  in 
Georgia  had  increased  more  than  eighty  thousand. 
During  the  next  ten  years  the  increase  in  the  popula- 
tion was  more  than  ninety  thousand.  This  increase 
meant  a  still  greater  demand  for  farm  lands.  West- 
ward the  Territory  of  Georgia  extended  to  the  Mis- 
sissippi River.  The  agitation  which  began  over  this 
rich  possession  when  the  Yazoo  Fraud  was  attempted, 
was  kept  up  until  1800,  when  Georgia  appointed  four 
of  her  most  prominent  citizens  to  meet  with  commis- 
sioners appointed  by  the  United  States,  and  settle  all 
questions  that  had  arisen.  The  result  was,  that  Georgia 
ceded  to  the  General  Government  all  her  lands  belong- 
ing to  the  State,  south  of  Tennessee  and  west  of  the 
Chattahoochee  River.  These  lands  were  to  be  sold, 
and  out  of  the  proceeds  the  State  was  to  receive  $1,250,- 
ooo.  It  was  also  provided  that  the  United  States,  at 
its  own  expense,  should  extinguish  the  Indian  titles 
to  the  lands  held  by  the  Creeks  between  the  forks  of 
the  Oconee  and  Ocmulgee  rivers,  and  that  in  like  man- 
ner the  General  Government  should  extinguish  the 
Indian  title  to  all  the  other  lands  within  the  State  of 
Georgia.  Under  this  agreement,  and  the  Indian  treaty 
based  upon  it,  nearly  all  of  the  lands  lying  between  the 


1/9 

Oconee  and  Ocmulgee  rivers  were  opened  up  for  occu- 
pation and  cultivation. 

All  the  Territory  of  Georgia  was  looked  upon  by  the 
people  as  a  public  domain,  belonging  to  the  State  for 
distribution  among  the  citizens.  The  lands  east  of  the 
Oconee  were  divided  among  the  people  under  the  plan 
known  as  the  "  Head  Right  System."  By  this  system 
every  citizen  was  allowed  to  choose,  and  survey  to  suit 
himself,  a  body  of  unoccupied  land.  This  done,  he  re- 
ceived a  title  called  a  "head  right  land  warrant,"  which 
was  issued  to  him  when  he  paid  a  small  fee  and  a 
nominal  price  for  the  land.  If  no  one  had  previously 
appropriated  the  same  land,  the  warrant  was  his  title. 
But  much  confusion  arose  in  the  distribution  of  titles, 
and  serious  disputes  grew  out  of  it.  The  poorer  sec- 
tions of  land  were  neglected,  and  only  the  most  fertile 
sections  surveyed. 

When  the  lands  west  of  the  Oconee  were  acquired, 
the  clumsy  Head  Right  System  was  given  up  for  what 
is  known  as  the  "  Land  Lottery  System."  "  All  free 
white  males,  twenty-one  years  of  age  or  older,  every 
married  man  with  children  under  age,  widows  with  chil- 
dren, and  all  families  of  orphan  minors,"  were  allowed 
to  draw  in  the  lottery.  Lists  of  these  persons  were  made 
out  in  each  county,  and  sent  to  the  governor.  The  lot- 
tery was  drawn  under  the  management  of  five  responsi- 
ble persons.  The  tickets  to  be  drawn  were  marked  with 
the  numbers  of  the  land  lots,  and  these  were  put  into 
boxes  with  numerous  blanks.  Those  who  were  fortu- 
nate enough  to  draw  numbered  tickets  were  entitled  to 
plats  and  grants  of  their  lots,  signed  by  the  governor. 


i8o 

The  lots  were  not  all  of  the  same  size.  Some  contained 
202^  acres,  others  490  acres.  Twelve  months  after  the 
drawing  was  completed,  the  fortunate  person  was  re- 
quired to  pay  into  the  State  treasury  four  dollars  for 
every  hundred  acres  contained  in  his  lot. 

Many  of  those  who  had  the  good  fortune  to  draw 
prizes  in  the  land-lottery  scheme  paid  the  necessary 
amount  of  money,  and  received  titles  to  their  land  lots ; 
but  many  others  neglected  to  pay  in  the  money,  and 
thus  forfeited  their  titles. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  land  hunger  of  the  people 
at  this  time  was  both  selfish  and  sordid  ;  but  if  we  come 
to  look  at  the  matter  closely,  selfishness  is  behind  much 
of  the  material  progress  that  the  world  has  made.  The 
selfishness  of  individuals  is  not  more  conspicuous  than 
the  selfishness  of  communities,  commonwealths,  and 
nations.  In  history  we  find  the  rumseller,  the  land 
grabber,  and  the  speculator  following  hard  upon  the 
heels  of  the  missionary.  The  selfishness  of  nations  is 
frequently  given  the  name  of  "patriotism,"  and  rightly 
so,  since  it  is  a  movement  for  the  good  of  all. 

When  Georgia  had  fairly  begun  to  recover  from  the 
disastrous  results  of  the  War  for  Independence,  the 
troubles  that  resulted  in  the  War  of  1812  began  to 
make  themselves  felt.  France  and  England  were  at 
war ;  and  the  United  States  Government  tried  to  re- 
main neutral,  giving  aid  to  neither  the  one  nor  the 
other.  But  this  was  not  pleasing  to  either  of  these 
great  powers.  Both  were  interested  in  the  trade  and 
commerce  of  this  country,  and  both  issued  orders  affect- 
ing American  affairs.  The  United  States  resented  the 


interference,  and  protested  against  it.  Great  Britain, 
with  an  arrogance  made  bitter  by  the  remembrance  of 
her  humiliating  defeat  at  the  hands  of  a  few  feeble 
Colonies,  replied  to 
the  American  protest, 
declaring  that  Amer- 
ican ships  would  still 
be  searched,  and 
American  sailors  im- 
pressed into  the  ser- 
vice of  the  British, 
wherever  found  on 
the  high  seas.  In 
1807  a  British  man- 
of-war  fired  on  an 
American  merchant 
vessel  as  it  was  leav- 
ing harbor.  Three 
men  were  killed, 
eighteen  wounded, 
and  four  sailors 
seized.  This  outrage 
inflamed  the  whole 
country,  and  in  De- 
cember of  that  year 
Congress  passed  a 
law  preventing  Amer- 
ican vessels  from 

leaving  their  ports  to  trade  with  foreign  nations. 
This  law  was  deeply  resented  by  the  New  Eng- 
land States,  and  they  held  at  Hartford,  Conn., 


182 


the  first  secession  convention  that  ever  met  in  this 
country. 

Georgia  was  foremost  among  the  States  to  denounce 
and  resist  the  aggressive  acts  of  Great  Britain.  In 
1808  the  Legislature  sent  an  address  to  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  approving  the  measures  he  had 
taken,  and  declared  that  the  people  of  Georgia  were 
strong  in  their  independence,  and  proud  of  their  gov- 
ernment, and  that  they  would  never  wish  to  see  the 
lives  and  property  of  their  brethren  exposed  to  the 
insult  and  rapacity  of  a  foreign  power ;  but  if  the  war 
should  come,  they  would,  in  proportion  to  their  number 
and  resources,  give  zealous  aid  to  the  government  of 
their  choice. 

The  British,  meanwhile,  made  arrangements  to  force 
a  cotton  trade  with  Georgia  and  South  Carolina,  and 
for  the  purpose  fitted  out  a  number  of  vessels  of  from 
ten  to  fifteen  guns  each.  These  vessels  were  to  be 
employed  in  opening  the  ports  of  Georgia  and  Carolina. 
A  war  brig  anchored  at  Tybee,  and  two  of  its  offi- 
cers went  to  Savannah.  When  they  had  made  known 
their  purpose,  they  were  peremptorily  ordered  away. 
They  returned  to  their  vessel  and  put  to  sea ;  but  as 
they  were  leaving,  they  fired  at  a  pilot  boat  in  the 
harbor,  and  committed  other  outrages. 

This  incident  and  others  aroused  the  indignation  of 
the  people.  The  Legislature  passed  resolutions,  ad- 
dressed to  the  President  of  the  United  States,  declar- 
ing that  all  hope  of  a  peaceful  termination  of  the 
difficulty  had  been  lost,  that  the  duty  of  the  United 
States  was  to  maintain  its  sovereign  rights  against 


1 83 

the  despots  of  Europe,  and  that  the  citizens  of  Georgia 
would  ever  be  found  in  readiness  to  assert  the  rights 
and  support  the  dignity  of  the  country  whenever  called 
on  by  the  General  Government.  By  the  time  the  treaty 
of  peace  was  made,  the  day  before  Christmas  in  1814, 
the  war  spirit  in  Georgia  had  been  roused  to  the  highest 
pitch  by  the  numerous  outrages  committed  by  the 
Indian  allies  of  the  British. 

But  the   story  of   the  Indian  troubles    belongs   to   a 
chapter  by  itself. 


THE  CREEKS  AND  THE  CREEK  WAR. 


F  all  the  stories  of  the 
troubles  of  the  early  set- 
tlers of  Georgia  with  the  Indians 
could  be  written  out,  they  would 
fill  a  very  large  book.  All  the  whites 
with  whom  the  red  men  came  in 
contact  in  Georgia  were  not  as  just, 
as  generous,  and  as  unselfish  as  James  Edward  Ogle- 
thorpe.  On  the  other  hand,  not  all  the  Indians  with 
whom  the  whites  had  dealings  were  as  wise  and  as 
honest  as  old  Tomochichi.  Consequently  misunder- 
standings arose,  and  prejudices  grew  and  developed. 
This  was  greatly  helped  by  dishonest  traders  and 
speculators,  who  were  keen  to  take  advantage  of  the 
ignorance  of  the  Indians. 

The    controlling    influence    among    the    Indians    in 
Georgia  was  the  Creek  Confederacy  (or  nation);    and 

184 


1*5 

this,  in  turn,  was  practically  controlled  by  the  Musco- 
gees.  North  of  the  Creeks,  Broad  River  being  the 
dividing  line,  lived  the  Cherokees,  a  nation  even  more 
warlike  than  the  Creeks.  The  impression  made  upon 
the  Indians  by  Oglethorpe  and  some  of  his  more  pru- 
dent successors,  made  them  the  strong  friends  of  the 
British.  Of  course,  the  red  men  were  unable  to  appre- 
ciate the  merits  of  the  quarrel  between  the  Georgia 
settlers  and  King  George :  but,  even  if  matters  had 
been  different,  they  would  probably  have  remained  on 
friendly  terms  with  the  Royalists ;  for  Governor  Wright, 
who  was  a  wise  as  well  as  a  good  man,  took  great 
pains,  when  the  Liberty  Boys  began  their  agitations 
against  the  Crown,  to  conciliate  the  Indians,  and  to 
show  them  that  the  King  was  their  friend.  What  was 
known  as  "  the  royal  presents "  were  promptly  sent 
from  England,  and  promptly  delivered  to  and  distrib- 
uted among  the  Indians.  The  governor  sent  for  the 
chiefs,  and  had  conferences  with  them  ;  so  that  when 
the  Revolution  began,  the  Upper  and  the  Lower  Creeks, 
and  the  Cherokees  as  well,  were  the  firm  friends  of  the 
British.  During  the  Revolution,  as  we  have  already 
seen,  they  made  constant  and  unprovoked  attacks  on 
the  patriots,  burning  their  houses,  carrying  off  their 
cattle,  and  murdering  their  helpless  women  and  chil- 
dren. These  raids  were  continued  even  after  the  Ameri- 
cans had  compelled  Great  Britain  to  recognize  their 
independence,  and  hundreds  of  incidents  might  be  given 
to  show  the  ferocity  with  which  the  savages  attacked 
the  whites.  In  many  cases  the  settlements  were  com- 
pelled to  build  stockades,  in  which  the  people  took 


1 86 

shelter,  for  safety  as  well  as  defense,  whenever  there 
was  an  alarm. 

On  one  occasion  shortly  after  the  close  of  the  war, 
the  Indians  attacked  the  family  of  a  man  named 
William  Tyner,  who  was  living  in  what  is  known  as 
Elbert  County.  Tyner  himself  was  absent,  and  his 
family  was  entirely  without  protection.  Mrs.  Tyner 
was  killed,  the  brains  of  her  youngest  child  were 
dashed  out  against  a  tree,  and  another  child  was 
scalped  and  left  for  dead.  A  young  boy  named  Noah, 
the  son  of  Mr.  Tyner,  escaped  in  the  general  confusion, 
and  hid  himself  in  a  hollow  tree.  This  tree  was  for 
many  years  known  as  "  Noah's  Ark."  Mary  and  'f  amar, 
two  daughters,  were  suffered  to  live ;  but  the  Indians 
carried  them  off  to  the  Coweta  towns  on  the  Chatta- 
hoochee.  These  children  remained  with  the  Indians 
several  years.  John  Manack,  an  Indian  trader,  saw 
them  there,  and  purchased  Mary.  He  then  brought 
her  to  Elbert  County,  and  afterwards  made  her  his 
wife.  He  returned  to  the  Indian  nation  shortly  after- 
wards, and  tried  to  purchase  Tamar;  but,  as  she  was 
useful  to  the  Indians  in  bringing  wood  and  fuel  for 
their  fires,  they  refused  to  sell  her.  When  Manack 
went  away,  an  old  Indian  woman,  who  was  fond  of 
Tamar,  learned  that  the  Indians,  suspecting  the  girl 
was  preparing  to  escape,  had  decided  to  burn  her  at 
the  stake.  The  old  woman  helped  her  to  escape  by 
providing  her  with  provisions  and  a  canoe.  She  also 
gave  Tamar  directions  how  to  go  down  the  Chatta- 
hoochee.  By  day  the  fleeing  girl  hid  herself  in  the 
thick  swamps  along  the  banks  of  the  river,  and  by 


1 87 

night  she  floated  down  the  river  in  her  canoe.  She 
finally  reached  Apalachicola  Bay,  took  passage  on  a 
vessel,  and  shortly  afterwards  arrived  at  Savannah. 
Here  she  was  assisted  to  her  home  in  Elbert  County 
by  the  citizens.  She  married  a  man  named  Hunt, 
and  no  doubt  many  of  her  descendants  are  still  living 
in  Georgia. 

There  was  once  an  Indian  village  in  Troup  County, 
on  the  west  bank  of  the  Chattahoochee,  where  the 
Indians  who  lived  on  the  Alabama  side  of  the  river 
were  in  the  habit  of  meeting  before  and  after  their 
raids  upon  the  white  settlements.  Before  the  raids 
they  would  meet  there  to  arrange  their  programme  ; 
and  afterwards  they  would  assemble  at  the  village  to 
count  the  scalps  they  had  taken,  dispose  of  their  pris- 
oners, and  divide  the  spoils.  On  one  occasion,  after  a 
very  destructive  raid  into  the  white  settlements,  the 
Indians  returned  to  this  village,  and  began  to  celebrate 
the  success  with  which  they  had  been  able  to  creep 
upon  the  settlements  at  dead  of  night,  murder  the 
unsuspecting  whites,  burn  their  dwellings,  and  drive 
off  their  horses  and  cattle.  This  time,  however,  the 
Indians  had  been  followed  by  a  few  hundred  men, 
under  the  leadership  of  General  David  Adams,  who 
was  at  that  time  a  major  in  the  militia,  and  a  scout. 
Major  Adams  had  taken  part  in  the  closing  scenes  of 
the  Revolution  when  quite  a  young  man.  When  the 
Creeks  renewed  their  depredations  after  the  war,  Major 
Adams,  both  as  a  scout  and  as  a  leader,  fought  the 
Indians  with  such  success  as  to  win  distinction. 

He  followed  the  Indians  on  this  occasion  with  a  few 


i88 

hundred  men,  who  had  volunteered  to  accompany  him. 
His  pursuit  was  not  active.  The  men  under  him  were 
not  seasoned  soldiers;  and  even  if  they  had  been, -the 
force  of  Indians  was  too  large  to  justify  an  attack. 
Major  Adams  followed  the  Indians  in  the  hope  that  he 
and  his  men  would  find  an  opportunity  to  surprise  them. 
The  Indians  marched  straight  for  the  village  on  the 
west  bank  of  the  Chattahoochee,  about  eight  miles 
beyond  the  point  where  La  Grange  now  stands.  At 
this  village,  which  was  the  central  point  of  the  Lower 
Creek  nation  at  that  time,  there  were  many  Indians  — 
men,  women,  and  children  —  awaiting  the  return  of  the 
raiders.  It  was  in  the  late  afternoon  when  they  reached 
the  village,  and  as  the  sun  went  down  they  began  the 
celebration  of  their  victories ;  and  in  this  they  were 
joined  by  the  Indians,  who  had  been  waiting  for  their 
return. 

Major  Adams  had  halted  his  command  a  few  miles 
from  the  river,  where  he  waited  until  night  fell.  He 
then  advanced  silently  to  the  banks  of  the  stream, 
which  was  not  so  wide  that  he  and  his  men  could  not 
see  the  Indians  dancing  around  their  fires,  and  hear 
their  whoops  and  yells.  On  one  bank  stood  the  men 
whose  families  and  friends  had  been  murdered ;  on  the 
opposite  shore,  and  almost  within  a  stone's  throw,  the 
red  murderers  danced  and  howled  in  savage  delight. 

For  half  the  night,  at  least,  the  orgies  were  kept  up 
by  the  Indians ;  but  at  last  they  grew  weary  of  the 
song  and  dance.  Their  fires  slowly  died  out,  and  there 
came  a  moment  when  the  whites,  who  were  watching 
and  waiting,  could  hear  nothing  but  the  murmur  of  the 


flowing  water,  as  it  rippled  over  the  shoals  or  lapped 
the  bank.  The  time  had  come  to  strike  a  blow,  if  a 
blow  was  to  be  struck.  It  was  characteristic  of  Major 
Adams,  that,  instead  of  sending  one  of  his  little  party 
to  find  out  the  position  of  the  village  and  its  surround- 
ings, so  as  to  be  able  to  make  a  swift,  sudden,  and  an 
effective  attack,  he  himself  proposed  to  go. 

It  was  a  hazardous  undertaking,  and  required  a  bold 
heart  to  undertake  it.  Major  Adams  knew  there  was 
a  ford  near  the  point  where  his  men  lay.  The  trail  led 
into  the  river  ;  but,  once  in  the  river,  it  was  lost  He 
had  to  find  the  ford  for  himself,  and  it  proved  to  be  a 
very  narrow  and  difficult  one.  It  led  in  a  direct  line 
across  the  river  nearly  halfway,  and  then  turned  down 
the  stream  in  an  oblique  direction.  A  part  of  the  ford 
was  over  a  slippery  shoal.  At  some  points  the  water 
was  knee-deep,  at  others  it  was  chin-deep. 

With  great  difficulty  Major  Adams  reached  the  oppo- 
site bank  in  safety.  The  paths  leading  from  the  ford 
into  the  swamp  that  lay  between  the  Indian  village  and 
the  river  were  so  numerous  that  the  stout-hearted  scout 
hardly  knew  which  one  to  take.  He  chose  one  almost 
at  random,,  and,  after  following  it  through  the  thick 
underbrush,  he  found  that  it  had  led  him  some  distance 
below  the  village.  He  followed  the  margin  of  the 
swamp  back  again,  and  soon  found  himself  in  the  out- 
skirts of  the  village.  There  he  paused  to  listen.  A 
dog  somewhere  in  the  settlement  barked  uneasily  and 
sleepily. 

Pushing  forward,  but  moving  with  the  utmost  cau- 
tion, Major  Adams  soon  found  himself  in  the  center  of 


1 90 

the  village.  In  every  hut  the  Indians  were  sleeping' ; 
and,  in  addition  to  these,  the  ground  seemed  to  be  cov- 
ered with  warriors,  who  lay  stretched  out  and  snoring, 
their  rifles  and  tomahawks  within  easy  reach.  The 
brave  Georgian  went  through  the  village  from  one  end 
to  the  other.  Once  a  huge  Indian,  near  whom  he  was 
passing,  raised  himself  on  his  elbow,  grasped  his  gun, 
and  looked  carefully  in  every  direction.  Having  satis- 


fied himself,  he  lay  down,  and  was  soon  snoring  again. 
Fortunately,  Major  Adams  had  seen  the  Indian  stir, 
and  sank  to  the  ground  near  a  group  of  sleeping  war- 
riors, where  he  remained  until  he  was  sure  the  savage 
was  asleep. 

He  had  examined  every  point  of  attack  and  defense  in 
the  village,  and  was  returning  to  the  river,  when  he  saw 
a  pony  tethered  to  a  sapling.  Thinking  that  the  little 
animal  would  be  able  to  find  the  ford  without  trouble. 


and  could  thus  be  used  as  a  safe  guide,  Major  Adams 
resolved  to  capture  it.  He  approached  the  pony  with 
that  intention,  but  not  until  too  late  did  he  discover 
that  it  had  a  bell  hung  on  its  neck.  The  pony,  fright- 
ened at  the  sight  of  a  white  man,  broke  the  rope  by 
which  he  was  tied,  and  went  scampering  through  the 
village,  arousing  and  alarming  warriors,  squaws,  chil- 
dren, and  dogs  with  the  jingling  bell. 

At  the  sound  of  the  bell,  Major  Adams  knew  that 
there  would  be  a  tremendous  uproar  in  the  village,  and 
he  made  an  instant  rush  toward  the  river,  but  soon 
found  himself  entangled  in  the  briers  and  thick  under- 
brush of  the  swamp.  It  was  fortunate  that  he  missed 
the  path  leading  to  the  ford ;  for  a  party  of  Indians 
ran  in  that  direction,  either  to  catch  the  pony,  or  to  find 
out  whether  they  were  about  to  be  attacked.  Some  of 
them  passed  within  a  few  feet  of  the  spot  where  Major 
Adams  stood. 

In  a  short  time  the  Indians  returned  to  the  village, 
and  it  was  not  long  before  everything  was  as  quiet 
and  as  peaceful  as  before  the  uproar.  Major  Adams, 
instead  of  hunting  for  the  path,  made  his  way  directly 
to  the  river,  slipped  into  the  water,  and  swam  straight 
across  to  the  opposite  bank.  He  soon  found  his 
men,  and  told  them  of  his  adventure  and  of  the 
plans  he  had  matured.  Up  to  this  moment  he  had 
been  second  in  command.  A  colonel  of  militia  was 
with  the  party,  and  it  was'  his  right  to  be  the  leader 
of  the  expedition;  but  now  the  men  declared  that 
they  would  cross  the  river  under  the  leadership  of 
no  one  but  Adams.  It  was  Adams  or  nobody ;  and 


the  militia  colonel,  as  gracefully  as  he  could,  yielded 
to  the  demand. 

Major  Adams  led  the  volunteers  safely  across  the 
treacherous  ford  and  into  the  Indian  town.  The  sur- 
prise was  complete.  Scarcely  a  warrior  escaped.  The 
women  and  children  were  spared  as  far  as  possible, 
but  the  village  was  burned  to  the  ground.  In  retreat- 
ing from  that  point,  which  was  the  center  of  the  famous 
Muscogee  nation,  Major  Adams  made  long  marches 
during  the  day,  and  camped  without  fires  at  night,  and 
in  this  way  brought  his  command  out  of  th  j  Indian 
country  without  the  loss  of  a  man. 

But  Adams's  excursion  to  the  center  of  the  Muscogee 
(or  Creek)  nation  did  not  settle  matters.  The  troubles 
continued.  The  temper  of  the  people  was  not  im- 
proved by  the  efforts  of  the  United  States  Government 
to  take  affairs  into  its  own  hands.  In  some  instances 
the  agents  of  the  General  Government  sought  to  stir  up 
'active  strife  between  the  people  of  the  State  and  the 
Indians,  and  it  was  their  habit  to  belittle  the  State  gov- 
ernment by  speaking  of  it  contemptuously  before  the 
Indians.  In  many  instances  the  United  States  stepped 
in  between  the  agents  of  the  State  and  the  Indians,  and 
prevented  settlements  and  treaties  that  would  have  been 
of  lasting  benefit  to  both  the  whites  and  the  Indians. 
This  was  not  due  to  any  purpose  or  desire  of  the  Gen- 
eral Government  to  trample  on  the  rights  of  the  State, 
but  grew  altogether  out  of  the  folly  of  the  agents,  who 
wanted  to  put  on  airs  and  advertise  their  importance. 

In  1796  there  was  a  treaty  of  peace  arranged  be- 
tween the  Creek  nation  and  the  United  States.  Three 


193 

commissioners  represented  the  General  Government, 
and  Georgia  also  had  three  present ;  bat  the  business 
was  conducted  without  regard  to  the  wishes  of  the 
Georgia  commissioners,  and,  as  the  commissioners 
thought,  without  regard  to  the  interests  of  the  State. 
Seagrove  was  the  name  of  the  agent  representing  the 
General  Government  at  that  time,  and  his  attitude 
toward  Georgia  was  not  calculated  to  give  the  Indians 
any  respect  for  the  commonwealth.  After  the  treaty 
was  signed,  General  James  Jackson,  on  the  part  of 
Georgia,  made  an  eloquent  speech,  in  which  he  showed 
that  the  Creeks  had  not  faithfully  observed  the  treaties 
they  had  made  with  the  State.  He  exhibited  two 
schedules  of  property  which  they  had  stolen,  amount- 
ing in  value  to  $110,000,  and  demanded  its  restoration. 
When  General  Jackson  had  concluded,  one  of  the  prom- 
inent chiefs  of  the  Creeks  remarked  that  he  could  fill 
more  paper  than  Jackson  showed  with  a  list  of  outrages 
of  the  Georgians  upon  his  people.  There  was  some- 
thing more  than  a  grain  of  truth  in  this ;  but  on  that 
very  account  the  Indians  and  the  Georgians  should 
have  been  allowed  to  settle  their  difficulties  in  their 
own  way,  without  the  interference  of  the  United 
States. 

The  result  of  the  treaty  at  Coleraine,  in  1796,  was, 
that  the  Georgia  agents  were  offended  with  Seagrove 
(the  Indian  agent  for  the  United  States),  offended  with 
the  Indians,  and  displeased  with  the  United  States  com- 
missioners. To  these  last  the  Georgians  presented  a 
protest  in  which  the  Federal  commissioners  were  accused 
of  disregarding  the  interests  of  Georgia.  Charges  were 

STO.  OF   GA.  —  1 3 


194 

brought  against  Seagrove,  who,  it  was  claimed,  had 
influenced  the  Creeks  not  to  cede  the  lands  as  far  as 
the  Ocmulgee.  A  bitter  controversy  grew  out  of  this. 
It  was,  in  fact,  very  nearly  the  beginning  of  the  discus- 
sion that  has  continued  from  that  day  to  this,  in  some 
shape  or  other,  over  the  rights  of  the  States  and  the 
power  of  the  General  Government.  Pickett,  in  his 
"  History  of  Alabama  and  Georgia,"  says  that  General 
Jackson,  and  Seagrove  the  Indian  agent,  became  ene- 
mies, and  afterwards  fought  a  duel. 

Other  treaties  were  made  with  the  Creeks  up  to  1806, 
but  all  these  were  violated  when  the  Indians  became 
the  allies  of  the  British  during  the  War  of  1812.  It  is 
only  fair  to  the  Indians  to  say  that  the  leader  in  whom 
they  placed  the  greatest  confidence  was  a  man  who  for 
many  years  nourished  hot  resentment  against  the  United 
States,  and  especially  against  Georgia.  This  man  was 
General  Alexander  McGillivray,  who  became  famous  as 
an  opponent  of  the  Americans  and  the  Georgians  in  all 
their  efforts  to  come  to  a  just,  fair,  and  peaceable  under- 
standing with  the  Creeks. 

As  has  been  stated,  when  the  War  of  1812  began,  the 
Creeks  became  the  allies  of  the  British,  and  the  attacks 
they  made  on  the  unprotected  settlements  were  so 
numerous  and  so  serious  as  to  call  for  some  action  on 
the  part  of  the  General  Government.  In  September, 
1813,  Congress  called  for  a  levy  of  Georgia  troops,  and 
the  State  authorities  ordered  3,600  men  to  assemble  at 
Camp  Hope,  near  Fort  Hawkins,  on  the  Ocmulgee 
River.  The  ruins  of  Fort  Hawkins  may  be  seen  to 
this  day  on  the  Ocmulgee,  near  the  city  of  Milledge- 


195 

ville.  The  men  who  assembled  at  Camp  Hope  were 
volunteers,  and  all  eager  for  service.  The  command  of 
this  force  fell  to  General  John  Floyd,  who  made  haste 
to  take  charge,  and  endeavored  to  make  arrangements 
for  taking  the  field  at  once.  He  found  his  men  assem- 
bled according  to  orders,  and  all  anxious  to  be  led 
against  the  hostile  Indians.  But  the  little  army  could 
not  march.  The  Federal  Government  had  failed  to 
supply  the  necessary  funds.  What  is  called  "  red 
tape  "  stood  in  the  way  of  prompt  action.  A  dispute 
arose.  Federal  officials  placed  the  blame  on  the  con- 
tractors who  were  to  furnish  supplies,  and  the  con- 
tractors placed  it  on  the  officials,  who  had  failed  to 
furnish  the  necessary  money.  While  this  dispute  was 
raging,  General  Floyd,  who  was  a  brave  and  gallant 
spirit,  applied  to  the  State  Legislature,  then  in  session, 
for  a  loan  of  $20,000.  The  request  was  granted,  and 
he  was  able  to  equip  his  troops,  procure  supplies,  and 
march  into  the  country  of  the  Creeks,  by  the  middle  or 
latter  part  of  November. 

Meanwhile  the  hostile  Creeks  had  already  challenged 
Georgia  and  begun  their  attack.  On  the  3Oth  of  Au- 
gust, seven  hundred  and  twenty-five  Creek  Indians 
attacked  Fort  Mims  on  the  Chattahoochee.  The  at- 
tack was  as  sudden  as  it  was  unexpected.  It  was 
made  at  twelve  o'clock  in  the  day,  and  the  inmates  of 
the  fort  were  taken  entirely  by  surprise.  The  sav- 
ages massacred  nearly  three  hundred  men,  women, 
and  children  in  the  most  cruel  manner.  This  hor- 
rible outrage  spread  consternation  on  the  frontier,  and 
aroused  indignation  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  Hun- 


ig6 

dreds  of  frontier  settlers  fled  from  their  homes,  and 
sought  safety  in  the  more  thickly  settled  regions. 

It  was  owing  to  this  massacre  that  the  troops  com- 
manded by  General  Floyd  were  called  out.  This  active 
and  energetic  leader  began  his  campaign  by  building  a 
line  of  forts  and  blockhouses  from  the  Ocmulgee  to  the 
Alabama  River,  and  in  this  way  completely  protected 
the  northern  part  of  the  State  from  invasion  by  the 
Creeks.  General  Floyd  accomplished  this  work  in 
spite  of  the  failure  of  the  United  States  officials  to 
supply  with  provisions  and  transportation  the  troops 
they  had  called  out. 

He  completed  his  line  of  defense  by  building  Fort 
Mitchell.  Leaving  a  sufficient  garrison  in  this  fort, 
General  Floyd  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  nine 
hundred  and  fifty  men,  and  marched  on  Autossee,  one 
of  the  most  populous  towns  of  the  Creek  nation,  situ- 
ated on  the  left  bank  of  the  Tallapoosa  River,  and 
near  the  town  of  Tallassee,  which  was  nearly  as  large. 
The  distance  from  Fort  Mitchell  to  Autossee  was  sixty 
miles,  and  General  Floyd  made  it  by  forced  night 
marches,  resting  his  troops  during  the  day.  He  was 
accompanied  on  this  expedition  by  General  William 
Mclntosh,  the  famous  Indian  chief,  who  led  four  hun- 
dred friendly  Creeks. 

Arriving  at  Autossee  and  Tallassee  at  daybreak  on 
the  2Qth  of  November,  1813,  General  Floyd  arranged 
and  ordered  a  simultaneous  attack  on  both  towns.  By 
nine  o'clock  the  Indians  had  been  defeated  and  driven 
from  the  towns,  and  their  houses  burned.  Four  hun- 
dred houses  were  burned,  with  all  the  provisions  and 


197 

stock.  Two  hundred  Indians  were  killed,  including 
the  kings  of  both  towns.  The  pipe  which  the  old 
chief  of  Tallassee  had  smoked  at  a  treaty  forty  years 
before,  was  taken  and  presented  to  the  governor,  who 
placed  it  in  the  executive  office  of  the  State  Capitol. 
Eleven  v/hites  were  killed,  and  fifty-four  wounded ; 
among  them,  General  Floyd  himself,  who  had  received 
a  ball  in  the  knee  early  in  the  fight.  He  refused  to 
have  his  wound  dressed,  and  continued  on  horseback, 
directing  his  troops,  until  after  the  battle  was  over.  He 
never  entirely  recovered  from  the  effects  of  this  wound. 
After  the  towns  had  been  entirely  destroyed,  the  troops 
returned  to  Fort  Mitchell,  having  marched  a  hundred 
and  twenty  miles  in  bitter  cold  weather,  and  fought 
a  severe  engagement  on  five  days'  provisions. 

In  January,  1814,  General  Floyd  heard  that  the 
Upper  Creeks  had  collected  in  great  force  at  the  In- 
dian town  of  Hothlewaulee.  By  that  time  his  wound 
had  so  far  healed  that  he  was  able  to  ride  a  horse,  and 
he  determined  to  make  an  attack  on  the  town.  For 
this  purpose  he  detached  from  the  troops  at  Fort 
Mitchell  a  force  of  fifteen  hundred  men.  The  weather 
was  cold,  and  the  winter  rains  had  so  obstructed  the 
roads  that  the  troops  found  the  march  a  weary  and  a 
difficult  one ;  but  they  pressed  on,  nevertheless,  cheered 
by  the  energy  and  enthusiasm  of  their  gallant  leader. 
They  marched  to  within  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  of  the 
town,  and  there  encamped.  Between  midnight  and  day 
a  large  body  of  Indians,  led  by  the  warrior  Weather- 
ford  and  Colonel  Woodbine,  an  English  officer,  'attacked 
General  Floyd's  camp.  His  troops  were  taken  by  sur- 


198 

prise,  but  they  were  not  demoralized.  They  had  been 
fighting  for  six  months,  and  were  seasoned  to  all  the  dan- 
gers of  Indian  warfare.  Above  all,  they  had  a  leader 
who  possessed  in  a  wonderful  degree  a  genius  for  war. 

No  sooner  had  the  alarm  been  sounded  than  General 
Floyd  rallied  his  little  army,  formed  it  in  a  square,  the 
baggage  in  the  center,  and  held  the  savages  at  bay  until 
daylight.  There  was  no  faltering  in  any  part  of  the 
line  or  on  any  side  of  the  square.  The  dauntless  cour- 
age of  Floyd  himself  seemed  to  control  every  man, 
down  to  the  humblest  private.  When  day  dawned,  a 
charge  was  sounded,  and  Floyd's  troops  drove  the  In- 
dians before  them  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet.  Within 
a  quarter  of  an  hour  after  the  charge  was  made,  the 
battle  was  won.  The  loss  of  the  Indians  was  never 
discovered,  as  they  had  an  opportunity  to  carry  off 
their  killed  and  wounded  up  to  the  moment  the  charge 
was  sounded.  Seventeen  Georgians  were  killed,  and  a 
hundred  and  thirty-two  wounded.  Floyd's  camp  was 
known  as  Camp  Defiance,  but  in  the  official  report 
the  fight  is  called  the  battle  of  Chalibbee.  The  at- 
tack was  made  on  Floyd  in  order  to  prevent  a  junc- 
tion between  his  troops  and  those  of  General  Andrew 
Jackson,  who  was  fighting  the  Indians  in  the  lower  part 
of  Alabama.  The  result  of  the  fight  made  a  junction 
unnecessary ;  and  shortly  afterwards  the  term  for  which 
Floyd's  Georgia  troops  had  enlisted  expired,  and  they 
were  discharged. 

In  1814,  when  peace  was  declared  between  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain,  the  Creeks  remained 
quiet  for  some  time. 


TWO    FAMOUS    INDIAN    CHIEFS. 

AMONG  the  Indian  leaders  who  made  Georgia  the 
scene  of  their  operations,  the  most  celebrated 
were  General  Alexander  McGillivray  and  General 
William  Mclntosh.  If  these  men  had  been  born  and 
brought  up  among  the  whites,  both  of  them  would 
have  won  lasting  renown.  They  possessed  the  energy 
and  the  genius  :  all  they  lacked  was  the  opportunity 
to  direct  their  gifts  into  channels  that  would  have  bene- 
fited humanity. 

Alexander  McGillivray  was  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able men  of  his  time,  whether  we  regard  him  as  a  leader 
of  the  Indians  or  simply  as  an  individual.  His  father, 
Lachlan  McGillivray,  being  a  lad  of  adventurous  turn, 
ran  away  from  a  home  in  Scotland  where  be  enjoyed 
all  the  advantages  and  comforts  that  wealth  could  give 
him,  took  passage  on  a  ship  bound  for  South  Carolina, 
and  shortly  afterwards  landed  at  Charleston.  Wander- 
ing about  in  that  city,  and  enjoying  the  sights  that 
were  new  to  his  experience,  he  soon  found  himself  in 
the  suburbs  of  the  city.  There  he  found  the  head- 
quarters of  the  Indian  traders,  who  came  to  Charles- 
ton with  their  pack  horses  to  carry  merchandise  of 
all  kinds  to  the  red  men.  One  of  these  traders  per- 
suaded young  McGillivray  to  go  with  him.  His  Scotch 

199 


2OO 

eye  and  mind  were  quick  to  appreciate  the  possibilities 
of  this  new  business,  and  in  a  few  years  he  became  one 
of  the  most  enterprising  and  prosperous  of  the  Indian 
traders.  He  pushed  his  trade  farther  than  any  of  his 
predecessors  had  ever  dared  to  go.  He  went,  indeed,  to 
the  neighborhood  of  Fort  Toulouse.  A  few  miles  above 
that  fort,  where  Wetumpka,  Ala.,  now  stands,  he  met 
Sehoy  Marchand,  a  beautiful  girl  of  about  sixteen  years. 
This  girl  was  the  daughter  of  Captain  Marchand,  who 
had  commanded  at  Fort  Toulouse,  but  who  had  been 
killed  by  his  own  soldiers  in  August,  1722.  The  soldiers 
rose  against  the  officers  of  the  garrison  on  account  of 
the  failure  of  France  to  forward  money  and  supplies 
to  the  troops  in  her  American  settlement.  The  girl's 
mother  was  a  Creek  woman  of  the  tribe  of  The  Wind, 
the  most  powerful  and  influential  family  in  the  Creek 
nation.  The  young  Scotchman  fell  in  love  with  the 
dark-haired  maiden,  and  she  fell  in  love  with  the  blue- 
eyed  Scotchman,  with  his  f  air  skin  and  red  hair.  Lach- 
lan  McGillivray  built  him  a  trading  house  on  the  Coosa, 
not  far  away,  and  soon  married  Sehoy,  and  carried  her 
home.  He  became  very  wealthy.  He  owned  two 
plantations  on  the  Savannah  River,  which  were  well 
stocked  with  negroes,  and  stores  filled  with  merchan- 
dise in  both  Savannah  and  Augusta.  When  Lachlan 
McGillivray's  son  Alexander  reached  the  age  of  four- 
teen, he  was  carried  to  Savannah  and  placed  at  school, 
and  in  a  few  years  was  made  a  clerk  in  a  counting- 
house  at  Savannah. 

But  the  humdrum   business    of   buying,  selling,  and 
adding  up  long  rows  of  tiresome  figures,  did  not  please 


2OI 


him,  and  so  he  neglected  his  duties  to  read  books, 
mainly  histories.  His  father,  taking  the  advice  of 
friends,  placed  young  Alexander  under  the  tutorship 
of  a  clergyman  in  Charleston,  where  the  lad  learned 
Latin  and  Greek,  and  in  that  way  became  well  grounded 
in  what  our  dear  old  grandfathers  called  polite  litera- 
ture. But  one  day  word  came  to  the 
young  man  that  the  chiefs  of  the 
Creek  nation,  who  were  getting  into 
trouble  with  the  people  of  Georgia, 
were  waiting  for  the  moment  when 
he,  as  a  descendant  of  the  tribe 
of  The  Wind,  should  return 
and  take  charge  of  the  affairs 
of  the  nation.  So  he  departed 
suddenly  from  Charleston,  and 
turned  his  horse's  head  toward 
the  wilderness. 

On  his  way  to  the  Creek 
nation,  he  fell  in  with  Leclerc  Mil- 
fort,  an  adventurous  Frenchman, 
who  afterwards  wrote  a  book  of 
travels,  and  was  made  a  general 
of  brigade  by  Napoleon.  Milfort 
married  one  of  McGillivray's  sisters,  was  made  Tustenug- 
gee  (or  grand  war  chief),  and  was  the  right-hand  man  of 
his  powerful  brother-in-law.  The  first  that  was  heard 
of  McGillivray  after  he  left  Charleston,  he  was  presiding 
at  a  grand  national  council  of  the  Creeks  at  the  town  of 
Coweta  on  the  Chattahoochee.  When  Alexander  arrived 
among  the  Creeks,  Colonel  Tait  of  the  British  army  was 


202 

stationed  on  the  Coosa,  and  he  used  all  his  tact  and 
influence  to  prevail  upon  the  young  man  to  take  the 
side  of  the  English  in  the  war  that  was  then  going 
on  between  the  Colonies  and  the  mother  country.  To 
this  end  Colonel  Tait  pursued  McGillivray  with  atten- 
tions, loaded  him  with  favors,  and  finally  caused  him 
to  be  given  the  rank  and  pay  of  a  colonel  in  the 
army.  The  result  was  that  the  great  chief  was 
throughout  the  war  devoted  to  the  cause  of  the 
British.  This  would  have  -been  natural  in  any  event, 
for  his  father  was  a  stanch  Royalist.  During  the 
war,  McGillivray  frequently  acted  in  concert  with  the 
notorious  Daniel  McGirth,  sometimes  leading  his  In- 
dians in  person ;  but  his  main  dependence  was  on  his 
brother-in-law  Milfort,  who  was  possessed  of  the  most 
daring  spirit.  McGillivray  preferred  to  plan  and 
engage  in  intrigue,  which  gave  the  remarkable  powers 
of  his  mind  full  play. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  authorities  of  Georgia 
made  a  great  mistake,  after  the  war,  in  neglecting  to 
win  the  friendship  of  McGillivray.  Such  a  course 
would  have  prevented  much  suffering  and  bloodshed. 
The  father  of  the  great  chief,  Lachlan  McGillivray, 
was  living  in  Savannah  at  the  close  of  the  Revolution  ; 
and  when  the  British  were  compelled  to  evacuate  the 
city,  he  scraped  together  an  immense  amount  of  money 
and  other  valuables,  and  sailed  for  Scotland.  He  aban- 
doned his  plantations  and  negroes,  in  the  hope  that  his 
wife  and  three  children  might  be  permitted  to  inherit 
them ;  but  the  Georgians  confiscated  the  whole  of  the 
valuable  estate,  and  thus  the  Creek  leader  had  another 


203 

reason  for  entertaining   a  bitter  prejudice  against  the 
Whigs. 

The  result  was,  that  until  the  day  of  his  death,  which 
occurred  in  1 792,  he  succeeded  in  baffling  all  the  efforts 
of  the  Federal  £nd  State  authorities  to  come  to  an 
understanding  with  the  Creek  nation.  He  was  perhaps 
the  most  accomplished  diplomat  in  the  country,  —  a 
veritable  Talleyrand,  able  to  cope  with  the  most  distin- 
guished statesmen  among  the  Americans.  Such  of  his 
letters  as  have  been  preserved  do  not  suffer  by  com- 
parison with  the  writings  of  even  the  greatest  of  the 
Americans.  The  most  of  these  depended  on  a  stately 
and  scholarly  diction  to  attract  attention.  McGillivray 
paid  little  regard  to  diction ;  but  his  letters  possess  the 
distinction  of  style,  and  in  this  particular  but  one 
American  writer  can  be  compared  to  him,  —  Benjamin 
Franklin.  There  is,  in  fact,  a  modern  touch  and  flavor 
about  McGillivray's  letters  that  even  the  writings  of 
Franklin  do  not  possess.  He  wrote  thus  to  Andrew 
Pickens,  who  had  addressed  him  on  behalf  of  the 
United  States  Government :  — 

"When  we  found  that  the  American  independence  was  confirmed 
by  the  peace,  we  expected  that  the  new  government  would  soon 
have  taken  some  steps  to  make  up  the  differences  that  subsisted 
between  them  and  the  Indians  during  the  war,  to  have  taken  them 
under  their  protection  and  confirmed  to  them  their  hunting  grounds. 
Such  a  course  would  have  reconciled  the  minds  of  the  Indians,  and 
secured  the  States  their  friendship,  as  they  considered  your  people 
their  natural  allies.  The  Georgians,  whose  particular  interest  it 
was  to  conciliate  the  friendship  of  this  nation,  have  acted  in  all 
respects  to  the  contrary.  I  am  sorry  to  observe  that  violence  and 
prejudice  have  taken  the  place  of  good  policy  and  reason  in  all 


204 

their  proceedings  with  us.  They  attempted  to  avail  themselves  of 
our  supposed  distressed  situation.  Their  talks  to  us  breathed 
nothing  but  vengeance,  and,  being  entirely  possessed  with  the  idea 
that  we  were  wholly  at  their  mercy,  they  never  once  reflected  that 
colonies  of  a  powerful  monarch  were  nearly  surrounding  us,  to 
whom,  in  any  extremity,  we  might  apply  for  sticcor  and  protection, 
and  who,  to  answer  some  ends  of  their  policy,  might  grant  it  to  us. 
However,  we  yet  deferred  any  such  proceeding,  still  expecting  that 
we  could  bring  them  to  a  true  sense  of  their  interest ;  but  still 
finding  no  alteration  in  their  conduct  towards  us,  we  sought  the 
protection  of  Spain,  and  treaties  of  friendship  and  alliance  were 
mutually  entered  into  ;  they  guaranteeing  our  hunting  grounds  and 
territory,  and  granting  us  a  free  trade  in  the  ports  of  the  Floridas. 

"  How  the  boundary  and  limits  between  the  Spaniards  and  the 
States  will  be  determined,  a  little  time  will  show,  as  I  believe  that 
matter  is  now  on  foot.  However,  we  know  our  limits  and  the 
extent  of  our  hunting  grounds.  As  a  free  nation,  we  have  applied, 
as  we  had  a  right  to  do,  for  protection,  and  obtained  it.  We  shall 
pay  no  attention  to  any  limits  that  may  prejudice  our  claims,  that 
were  drawn  by  an  American  and  confirmed  by  a  British  negotiator. 
Yet,  notwithstanding  we  have  been  obliged  to  adopt  these  measures 
for  our  preservation,  and  from  real  necessity,  we  sincerely  wish  to 
have  it  in  our  power  to  be  on  the  same  footing  with  the  States  as 
before  the  late  unhappy  war,  to  effect  which  is  entirely  in  your 
power.  We  want  nothing  from  you  but  justice.  We  want  our 
hunting  grounds  preserved  from  encroachments.  They  have  been 
ours  from  the  beginning  of  time,  and  I  trust  that,  with  the  assist- 
ance of  our  friends,  we  shall  be  able  to  maintain  them  against  every 
attempt  to  take  them  from  us.11 


Undoubtedly  McGillivray  was  unscrupulous,  and  the 
probability  is  that  he  was  mercenary ;  but  such  charges 
may  be  brought  against  some  of  the  ablest  men  who 
have  figured  in  history.  When  all  is  said,  the  fact 
remains  that  Alexander  McGillivray  was  one  of  the 


205 

most  accomplished  and  ingenious  of  the  politicians  of 
his  time.  If  he  had  been  on  the  side  of  the  whites,  and 
had  managed  their  interests  with  the  skill  and  ability 
which  he  displayed  in  behalf  of  the  Creeks,  history 
would  have  written  him  down  as  a  great  statesman. 
It  was  only  by  an  accidental  suit  at  law  that  some 
of  his  most  characteristic  letters  were  brought  to 
light ;  but  those  that  have  been  rescued  from  oblivion 
show  that  in  wielding  the  pen  he  was  more  than 
a  match  for  the  many  able  men  who  corresponded 
with  him. 

In  September,  1789,  Washington  sent  General  An- 
drew Pickens,  with  three  other  commissioners,  to  treat 
with  McGillivray.  They  found  the  great  chief  at  Rock 
Landing,  on  the  Oconee,  with  two  thousand  Creek  war- 
riors, where  he  had  been  encamped  more  than  a  week. 
The  Indian  camp  was  on  the  western  bank  of  the  river. 
The  commissioners  pitched  their  tents  on  the  eastern 
bank.  They  were  received  by  McGillivray  with  great 
courtesy.  Everything  progressed  favorably,  so  much 
so  that  the  commissioners  read  to  the  assembled  chiefs 
a  copy  of  the  treaty  which  they  had  drawn  up.  This 
treaty  was  all  in  favor  of  the  whites.  The  Indians 
were  offered  no  equivalent  for  the  terms  proposed.  It 
is  worthy  of  note  that  Andrew  Pickens  wholly  dissented 
from  the  terms  of  the  proposed  treaty.  He  knew  that 
the  Indians  would  have  to  be  paid  for  the  valuable  land 
which  the  Georgians  were  then  cultivating  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  Oconee,  and  the  commissioners  had 
been  advised  by  the  Federal  authorities  to  pay  for 
these  lands.  McGillivray  broke  up  his  encampment 


206 

and  retired  to  the  Ocmulgee,  nor  could  he  be  induced 
at  that  time  to  renew  the  negotiations. 

President  Washington  was  urged  by  the  Georgia  dele- 
gation in  Congress  to  declare  war  against  the  Creeks, 
and  this  indeed  was  his  first  impulse ;  but  when  he 
found,  from  a  careful  estimate,  that  the  expenses  of 
such  a  war  would  amount  to  fifteen  millions  of  dollars, 
he  prudently  gave  up  the  idea.  He  took  the  matter 
in  hand  in  a  more  conservative  way.  He  appointed 
Colonel  Marinus  Willett  a  secret  agent  to  visit  Mc- 
Gillivray,  and  urge  him  to  visit  President  Washington 
in  New  York.  In  this  Colonel  Willett  was  entirely 
successful.  Accompanied  by  McGillivray  and  a  num- 
ber of  the  leading  men  of  the  Creeks,  Willett  set  out 
on  his  return  journey.  At  Guilford  Court  House, 
McGillivray  attracted  great  attention  on  account  of  a 
very  pathetic  incident  that  occurred  there  some  years 
before.  A  man  named  Brown  had  been  killed  by  the 
Creeks,  and  his  wife  and  children  captured  and  made 
slaves.  Their  unfortunate  condition  came  to  the  notice 
of  Alexander  McGillivray,  and,  as  he  had  done  in  the 
case  of  many  other  captive  white  women  and  children, 
he  paid  their  ransom  and  redeemed  them  from  slavery. 
He  maintained  them  at  his  house  for  over  a  year,  and 
finally  assisted  them  to  return  to  their  friends.  Mrs. 
Brown,  hearing  that  McGillivray  had  arrived,  went  to 
see  him.  At  that  moment  he  was  in  the  courthouse, 
the  center  of  a  large  assembly  of  ladies  and  gentlemen 
who  had  gathered  to  pay  their  respects.  But  this  was 
no  obstacle  to  Mrs.  Brown.  She  rushed  through  the 
assembly,  and,  in  a  flood  of  tears,  expressed  her  grati- 


20/ 

tude  to  him  for  saving  her  life  and  the  lives  of  her 
children.  She  also  expressed  her  strong  admiration 
for  his  character. 

In  due  course,  McGillivray  arrived  in  New  York, 
where  he  was  treated  with  great  consideration.  He 
had  long  private  conferences  with  Washington  and 
other  officials  of  the  government,  and  was  finally 
induced  to  make  a  treaty  which  was  satisfactory  to 
the  United  States,  and  would  have  been  satisfactory 
to  Georgia  if  it  had  been  carried  out,  but  in  fact  the 
terms  of  it  were  never  fulfilled.  While  in  New  York, 
McGillivray  made  a  secret  treaty  with  Washington,  a 
fact  that  was  not  discovered  for  many  years.  It  pro- 
vided, that  after  two  years  from  date  (August,  1/90) 
the  commerce  of  the  Creek  nation  should  be  carried 
on  through  the  ports  of  the  United  States,  and  in  the 
mean  time  through  the  present  channels;  that  a  num- 
ber of  chiefs  of  the  Creeks  and  of  the  Seminole  nation 
should  be  paid  one  hundred  dollars  a  year  each,  and 
be  furnished  with  handsome  medals ;  that  the  United 
States  should  feed,  clothe,  and  educate  Creek  youth 
at  the  North,  not  exceeding  five  at  one  time ;  and  that 
Alexander  McGillivray  should  be  constituted  agent  of 
the  United  States,  with  the  rank  of  brigadier  general, 
and  the  pay  of  twelve  hundred  dollars  a  year.  In 
1792,  McGillivray  was  a  British  colonel,  an  American 
brigadier  general,  an  agent  of  the  United  States,  and 
an  agent  of  Spain.  This  extraordinary  man  died  in 
Pensacola  on  the  I7th  of  February,  having  been  seized 
with  a  fatal  illness  while  returning  from  one  of  his 
plantations  on  Little  River  in  Putnam  or  Baldwin. 


208 

Another  famous  Creek  was  General  William  Mcln- 
tosh,  a  half-breed.  His  father  was  Captain  William 
Mclntosh,  and  his  mother  was  an  Indian  of  unmixed 
blood.  He  was  not  so  brilliant  a  man  intellectually  as 
McGillivray ;  but  he  had  a  native  force  of  character, 
and  an  inborn  sense  of  justice,  that  McGillivray  seems 
to  have  been  a  stranger  to.  History  tells  us  little 
enough  of  Mclntosh,  but  that  little  is  all  to  his  credit. 
Almost  from  the  days  of  Oglethorpe,  there  were  two 
parties  in  the  Creek  nation,  and  the  issue  on  which 
they  divided  was  the  treatment  that  should  be  accorded 
to  the  whites.  The  party  division  was  geographical  as 
well  as  political.  The  Upper  Creeks,  living  upon  the 
Alabama,  Coosa,  and  Tallapoosa  rivers,  were  not  pres- 
ent at  the  Coweta  town  when  James  Oglethorpe  treated 
with  the  Lower  Creeks  in  August,  1730.  At  that 
time  they  were  under  the  influence  of  the  French, 
and  afterwards  they  sought  the  protection  of  the  Span- 
iards. They  refused  to  recognize  any  of  the  treaties 
made  by  the  Lower  Creeks  with  the  English,  and  the 
great  body  of  them  remained  to  the  end  the  bitter 
enemies  of  the  Georgians.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
majority  of  the  Lower  Creeks  were  friendly  with  the 
English  from  the  days  of  Oglethorpe ;  and  that  friend- 
ship continued,  with  but  few  interruptions,  down  to  the 
days  of  Governor  Troup. 

Now,  McGillivray,  in  his  day  and  time,  represented 
the  Upper  Creeks  of  the  Tallapoosa  country  and  their 
policy,  while  William  Mclntosh  represented  the  Lower 
Creeks  of  the  Coweta  country  and  their  policy.  The 
division  in  the  Creek  nation  was  so  serious,  that,  when 


209 

the  Upper  Creeks  took  sides  with  the  British  in  the 
War  of  1812,  they  found  themselves  opposed  in  the 
field  by  a  large  party  of  Lower  Creeks  under  the  com- 
mand of  Mclntosh.  Thus,  at  the  battle  of  Autossee, 
William  Mclntosh  led  a  large  band  of  Lower  Creeks 
against  those  who  were  making  war  on  the  whites.  He 
made  himself  so  conspicuous  in  that  affair,  that  General 
Floyd  mentions  him  in  the  official  report  of  the  battle. 

The  treaty  at  Indian  Spring,  and  the  results  that 
followed,  cannot  be  clearly  understood  unless  we  bear 
in  mind  the  political  differences  that  existed  between 
the  Upper  and  the  Lower  Creeks.  The  Creek  chiefs 
and  the  commissioners  met  at  Indian  Spring  on  the 
1 5th  of  February,  1825.  The  chiefs  and  warriors  of 
the  Upper  Creeks  declared  that  no  treaty  could  be 
made  for  a  cession  of  lands,  and  on  the  night  of  the 
i  ith  they  went  home.  On  the  I2th  a  treaty  was  signed 
with  the  Mclntosh  party.  Colonel  John  A.  Crowell, 
agent  for  the  Creek  Indians,  sent  a  letter  to  the  secre- 
tary of  war,  in  which  he  declared  that  the  treaty  was 
in  direct  opposition  to  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  in- 
structions to  the  commissioners ;  but  the  treaty  was 
sent  to  Washington,  and  was  ratified  on  the  3d  of 
March,  1825.  When  the  Indians  of  the  Upper  Creeks 
and  their  party  learned  that  the  treaty  had  been  rati- 
fied, they  became  very  much  excited.  Mclntosh  and 
his  party  went  to  Milledgeville,  and  told  the  governor 
that  they  expected  violent  treatment  at  the  hands  of 
the  Upper  Creeks.  They  begged  the  protection  of  the 
State  and  of  the  United  States,  and  this  was  promised 
them. 

STO.  OF  GA.  —  14 


210 

Out  of  this  treaty  grew  a  very  serious  conflict  between 
the  Federal  and  State  governments.  After  a  good  deal 
of  discussion,  the  President  asked  Congress  to  recon- 
sider the  treaty  of  Indian  Spring,  and  presented  a  new 
one  as  a  substitute,  which  was  ratified  and  proclaimed ; 
but  popular  indignation  ran  so  high  in  Georgia,  that 
Governor  Troup  felt  justified  in  paying  no  attention  to 
this  new  treaty.  He  proceeded  to  carry  out  the  terms 
of  the  Indian  Spring  treaty.  Charges  'were  brought 
against  Crowell,  the  Indian  agent.  The  governor  in- 
formed T.  P.  Andrews,  the  special  agent,  that  he  would 
hold  no  further  correspondence  with  him.  The  con- 
duct of  General  Gaines  had  been  such  that  Governor 
Troup  requested  the  Federal  Government  to  recall, 
arrest,  and  punish  him.  In  1826  the  State  Legislature 
declared  that  the  attempt  to  repeal  the  treaty  of  Indian 
Spring  by  the  substitution  of  another  treaty  was  illegal 
and  unconstitutional.  In  September,  1826,  Governor 
Troup  ordered  the  districts  ceded  by  the  treaty  of 
Indian  Spring  to  be  surveyed.  When  the  Indians  com- 
plained of  this,  the  secretary  of  war  wrote  to  Governor 
Troup  that  the  President  felt  himself  compelled  to 
employ  all  the  means  under  his  control  to  maintain 
the  faith  of  the  nation  by  carrying  the  treaty  into  effect, 
meaning  the  treaty  made  at  Washington,  and  intended 
to  be  a  substitute  for  the  Indian  Spring  treaty.  In 
his  reply,  Governor  Troup  declared  that  he  would  feel 
it  to  be  his  duty  to  resist  to  the  utmost  any  military 
attack  which  the  President  of  the  United  States  should 
think  proper  to  make  upon  the  Territory,  the  people, 
or  the  sovereignty  of  Georgia.  "  From  the  first  deci- 


211 

sive  act  of  hostility,"  he  wrote  to  the  secretary  of  war, 
"  you  will  be  considered  and  treated  as  a  public  enemy. 
You  have  referred  me,  as  the  rule  of  my  conduct,  to 
the  treaty  of  Washington.  In  turn  I  refer  you  to  the 
treaty  of  prior  date  and  prior  ratification,  concluded  at 
the  Indian  Spring." 

The  President  issued  orders  that  the  surveyors  ap- 
pointed by  the  State  be  prosecuted.  Governor  Troup 
thereupon  ordered  the  proper  officers,  in  every  instance 
of  complaint  made  of  the  arrest  of  any  surveyor,  to 
take  all  necessary  and  legal  measures  to  effect  their 
liberation,  and  to  bring  to  justice  all  the  parties  con- 
cerned in  such  arrests,  as  violators  of  the  peace  and 
personal  security  of  the  State.  He  also  ordered  the 
major  generals  of  the  militia  to  hold  the  various  regi- 
ments and  battalions  in  readiness  to  repel  any  hostile 
invasion  of  the  State.  But  no  acts  of  violence  were 
committed.  The  surveyors  were  not  arrested,  the  sur- 
veys were  made,  and  the  lands  ceded  by  the  treaty  of 
Indian  Spring  were  divided  by  lottery  in  1827. 

The  Upper  Creeks,  who  had  always  been  unfriendly 
to  the  Georgians,  were  so  angry  at  the  signing  of  the 
treaty  of  Indian  Spring,  that  they  determined  to  assas- 
sinate General  William  Mclntosh.  They  had  never  for- 
given him  for  leading  his  party  of  Lower  Creeks  against 
them  in  the  campaign  that  was  made  necessary  by  the 
terrible  massacre  of  Fort  Mims,  and  they  now  deter- 
mined to  rid  themselves  of  him  at  once  and  forever. 

We  have  seen  that  General  Mclntosh,  and  his  party 
of  Lower  Creeks,  suspecting  that  an  attack  would  be 
made  on  them  by  the  powerful  tribes  on  the  Talla- 


212 

poosa,  went  to  Milledgeville  to  beg  the  governor  to  pro- 
tect them.  Protection  was  promised,  but  never  given. 
Meanwhile  the  Upper  Creeks  held  a  secret  council,  and 
selected  a  hundred  and  seventy  of  the  boldest  warriors  in 
the  nation  to  murder  Mclntosh.  They  marched  in  the 
most  cautious  way.  They  reached  the  neighborhood  of 
Mclntosh's  home,  and  concealed  themselves,  to  wait  for 
night  to  fall.  About  sundown,  or  a  little  before,  the 
Indians  saw  from  their  hiding  place  two  persons  riding 
along  a  trail.  One  was  Mclntosh,  and  the  other  a  man 
named  Hawkins,  who  had  married  one  of  Mclntosh's 
daughters.  It  would  have  been  an  easy  matter  for  the 
savages  to  have  killed  Mclntosh  at  this  time;  but  they 
had  made  up  their  minds  to  kill  him  upon  his  own 
premises,  so  that  his  blood  might  stain  the  land  that 
had  been  granted  him  by  the  State.  While  still  in  sight 
of  the  men  who  had  been  sent  to  slay  him,  Mclntosh 
bade  Hawkins  good  evening,  wheeled  his  horse,  and 
rode  back  on  the  trail  toward  his  home.  Although  he 
was  now  alone,  the  Indians  would  not  kill  him.  They 
had  fixed  up  a  different  plan,  and  they  carried  it  out. 

Before  dark  the  Indians  gathered  together  a  supply 
of  "fat  lightwood,"  as  the  resinous  pine  was  called. 
This  they  split  into  convenient  length,  and  made  up 
into  three  bundles  to  be  carried  on  the  backs  of  their 
warriors.  They  remained  hidden  within  half  a  mile  of 
Mclntosh's  house  till  three  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and 
then  silently  and  swiftly  marched  to  the  place.  They 
had  taken  along  with  them  a  man  named  James  Hutton 
to  act  as  interpreter,  the  reason  for  this  being  that 
Mclntosh  was  in  the  habit  of  entertaining  travelers. 


213 


It  was  to  be  Hutton's  duty  to  assure  such  as  might  be 
found  there  that  they  would  not  be  disturbed  in  any 
manner.  Guests  of  Mclntosh  were  commonly  lodged 
in  an  outhouse  in  the  yard ;  and  Hutton,  accompanied 

by  two  Indians,  went  to  this 
building  to  see  who  might 
be   sleeping  there.     They 
found   a   peddler    in 
one  bed,  and  Chilly, 
a     son     of    General 
Mclntosh,    in 
another. 


LI 


Young  Mclntosh,  as  if  instinctively  understanding  the 
nature  of  the  visit,  sprang  from  the  bed  and  leaped 
out  at  a  window.  He  was  fired  upon  by  the  Indians, 
but  was  not  touched,  and  succeeded  in  making  his 
escape.  The  peddler  was  nearly  scared  out  of  his  wits ; 


214 

but  his  pack  of  goods  was  removed  to  a  place  of  safety, 
and  the  house  in  which  he  had  been  sleeping  was  soon 
in  flames. 

Meanwhile  most  of  the  Indians  had  surrounded 
Mclntosh's  house,  and  torches  of  the  fat  pine  were 
used  to  set  it  on  fire.  The  red  men  danced  around  the 
burning  building,  yelling,  and  crying  out,  "  Mclntosh, 
we  have  come,  we  have  come !  We  told  you  if  you 
sold  the  land  to  the  Georgians  we  would  come.  Now 
we  have  come  !  "  At  the  first  alarm  Mclntosh  had  bar- 
ricaded his  front  door.  He  stood  near  it ;  and  when  it 
was  broken  down,  he  fired  upon  his  assailants.  At  that 
moment,  one  of  his  firmest  friends,  Toma  Tustenuggee, 
who  had  thrown  himself  upon  the  party  at  the  door, 
fell  on  the  threshold,  riddled  with  bullets.  General 
Mclntosh  then  retreated  to  the  second  story  with  four 
guns,  which  he  continued  to  fire  from  the  windows. 

The  flames  drove  him  from  the  second  story  to  the 
first  floor  again.  He  fought  bravely  to  the  end,  but 
was  soon  compelled  to  expose  himself  to  the  fire  of 
his  enemies.  He  fell  to  the  floor,  pierced  by  many 
bullets,  and  was  dragged  into  the  yard  by  his  heels. 
He  breathed  defiance  to  the  last,  and  was  finally 
stabbed  to  death.  After  this  savage  deed,  the  Indians 
plundered  the  houses,  killed  such  cattle  as  they  could 
find,  and  committed  other  outrages.  A  small  party  of 
the  Indians  had  followed  Hawkins  the  evening  before. 
His  house  was  surrounded  about  daybreak  the  next 
morning,  and  he  was  ordered  to  come  out.  He  re- 
fused, and  defended  himself  the  best  he  could ;  but 
he  was  finally  taken  prisoner  and  tied,  until  the  fate 


215 

of  Mclntosh  was  known.  Then  he  was  murdered,  and 
his  body  thrown  into  the  river  near  where  he  lived. 
The  Indians  marched  back  to  the  Tallapoosa  country 
with  the  scalps  of  these  unfortunate  men.  Mclntosh's 
scalp  was  suspended  from  a  pole  in  the  public  square 
of  Ocfuskee,  and  young  and  old  danced  around  it  with 
shouts  of  joy. 

General  Mclntosh  was  a  cousin  of  Governor  Troup, 
being  the  son  of  Governor  Troup's  uncle,  Captain  Wil- 
liam Mclntosh,  who  was  frequently  on  the  Chatta- 
hoochee  before  the  breaking-out  of  the  Revolution. 


REMOVAL   OF   THE    CHEROKEES. 

WHEN  Georgia  had  begun  to  recover  its  breath, 
after  the  difficulties  with  the  Creeks,  the  people 
had  time  to  discover  that  they  had  a  much  more  seri- 
ous problem  to  deal  with  in  the  Cherokee  nation,  which 
occupied  all  the  northwestern  portion  of  the  State. 
Those  who  mingled  thrift  with  their  benevolence,  and 
had  the  courage  to  think  about  the  future  of  the  whites 
as  well  as  the  future  of  the  savages,  thought  that  both 
ends  would  be  attained  by  making  a  permanent  settle- 
ment for  the  Indians  beyond  the  Mississippi  River. 
Those  whose  benevolence  was  a  mixture  of  sentimen- 
tality and  romantic  misinformation  thought  the  Indians 
ought  to  be  left  where  contact  with  the  whites  would 
tend  to  civilize  and  Christianize  them.  Consequently 
there  were  two  parties  to  the  discussion,  and  a  good 
deal  of  practical  selfishness  at  the  bottom  of  it  all. 
There  used  to  be  an  old  song  running  in  this  wise,— 

"  All  I  want  in  this  creation, 
Is  a  pretty  little  wife  and  a  big  plantation 
Away  up  yonder  in  the  Cherokee  nation,1'  — 

and  this  song  no  doubt  represented  the  real  feeling 
behind  the  whole  matter.  The  big  plantation  was  what 
was  really  wanted.  At  the  same  time  it  should  not 

216 


be  forgotten  that  it  was  for  the  benefit  of  the  Indians 
as  well  as  the  whites  that  they  should  be  settled  in  a 
section  where  they  would  remain  undisturbed.  This 
policy  has  been  proven  by  time  to  be  the  true  one. 

Travelers  and  romancers  have  done  no  end  of  harm 
by  exalting  the  Indian  character,  covering  up  its  faults, 
and  exaggerating  its  merits.  Romance  has  made  great 
heroes  of  the  Indians  ;  but  in  the  whole  history  of  the 
red  men,  so  far  as  it  has  been  faithfully  chronicled,  the 
names  of  the  Indians  of  unmixed  blood  who  are  worth 
remembering  can  be  counted  on  the  fingers  of  two  hands. 

Sequoia,  or  George  Guess,  who  invented  the  Chero- 
kee alphabet,  was  the  grandson  of  a  white  man.  This 
invention,  however,  was  a  very  remarkable  achieve- 
ment, and  it  is  worthy  of  a  word  here.  Sequoia  was 
altogether  illiterate.  He  could  neither  write  nor  speak 
English,  but  he  saw  that  the  whites  could  talk  with 
each  other  by  means  of  pieces  of  paper.  So  he  set 
himself  to  work  to  examine  his  own  language.  He 
found  that  sixty  monosyllables  could  be  so  combined 
as  to  represent  every  word  in  the  Cherokee  language, 
and  for  each  of  these  syllables  he  formed  a  character. 
Many  of  these  characters  were  taken  from  an  English 
spelling  book  which  he  managed  to  get  hold  of.  Some 
are  Greek  characters,  and  others  are  letters  of  the  Eng- 
lish alphabet  turned  upside  down ;  but  each  character 
in  the  Cherokee  alphabet  stands  for  a  monosyllable.  It 
happened,  too,  from  the  structure  of  the  Cherokee  lan- 
guage or  dialect,  that  the  syllabic  alphabet  is  also  in 
the  nature  of  a  grammar;  so  that  those  who  know  the 
language  by  ear,  and  master  the  alphabet,  can  at  once 


218 

read  and  write.  Owing  to  the  extreme  simplicity  of 
this  system,  it  can  be  acquired  in  a  few  days.  Some 
have  learned  it  even  in  one  day.  Thus  it  happened 
that  the  Cherokees,  who  were  at  the  beginning  of  one 
year  ignorant  and  illiterate,  had  become  in  the  course 
of  a  few  months  able  to  read  and  write  their  own 
language.  They  accomplished  this  without  going  to 
school,  and  without  expense  of  time  or  money. 

This  curious  and  useful  invention  is  dwelt  on  here 
because  it  stands  alone.  The  Indian  grandson  of  a 
white  man  remains  to-day  the  only  man,  in  the  long 
history  of  the  aborigines,  who  has  done  anything  for 
the  real  and  lasting  benefit  of  his  race. 

When  the  people  of  Georgia  insisted  on  the  removal 
of  that  nation  to  the  Far  West,  the  Cherokees  were 
neither  better  nor  worse  than  the  rest  of  the  Indians. 
Some  of  the  half-breeds  had  indeed  begun  to  put  on 
the  airs  of  civilization,  and  many  of  them  had  put  off 
their  barbarian  garbs ;  but  from  time  to  time  they  gave 
evidence  that  contact  with  the  whites  had  only  whetted 
their  savage  appetites  for  cruelty.  The  Indian  in 
Cooper's  novels  and  the  Indian  in  real  life  are  two  dif- 
ferent creatures.  They  were  tall  and  straight  because 
they  refused  to  do  manual  labor.  The  drudgery  was 
left  to  the  women,  who  hoed  the  corn  when  at  home, 
and  carried  the  burdens  when  the  warriors  were  mov- 
ing about.  They  cultivated  the  passion  of  revenge. 
Those  who  know  them  best  have  declared  in  a  thousand 
ways  that  they  never  found  in  the  red  men  any  solid, 
substantial,  or  agreeable  quality.  They  were  brave,  but 
so  is  a  bulldog. 


2I9 

There  is  no  wonder  that  Georgia  wanted  to  get  rid  of 
them  as  neighbors.  The  people  showed  their  anxiety 
in  this  matter  when,  in  1802,  they  conveyed  to  the 
United  States  Government  all  the  valuable  lands  that 
now  form  the  States  of  Alabama  and  Mississippi ;  the 
consideration  being  that  the  General  Government  would 
secure  from  the  Indians,  and  open  up  to  settlement,  the 
lands  which  they  then  held  in  the  State.  In  1808  the 
Cherokees  asked  the  United  States  to  allow  them  to 
examine  the  public  land  west  of  the  Mississippi,  and,  if 
pleased,  to  settle  on  it.  Permission  was  given,  and  the 
Cherokees  sent  a  party  to  explore  the  lands.  The 
country  suited  them  so  well  that  many  of  the  Indians 
emigrated  at  once.  The  General  Government  thus  had 
an  opportunity  to  carry  out  the  contract  of  1802,  but 
failed  to  do  so.  It  had  another  opportunity  in  1814, 
when  the  conquered  Creeks  sued  for  peace.  The  Gen- 
eral Government  had  the  right  to  demand  of  them  the 
cession  of  the  land  they  occupied  in  Georgia.  Instead, 
it  took  land  in  Alabama,  which  it  sold  for  its  own 
benefit. 

And  so  the  matter  went  on  from  year  to  year,  and 
the  people  waited  patiently;  for  they  had  become 
aware,  from  costly  experience,  that  one  of  the  prices 
they  have  to  pay  for  popular  government  is  the  occa- 
sional rule  of  the  political  demagogue. 

In  1827,  when  the  people  of  Georgia  began  to  grow 
restive  under  the  failure  of  the  government  to  carry 
out  its  contracts,  the  Cherokees  had  declared  them- 
selves to  be  an  independent  state.  They  had  their 
own  printed  constitution  and  code  of  laws.  So  that 


220 

here  in  the  limits  of  Georgia  there  were  three  govern- 
ments going  on  at  one  and  the  same  time.  The 
United  States  prohibited  any  person  from  settling  on 
Indian  territory,  or  trading  with  any  Indian,  without  a 
special  license  from  the  proper  authority.  In  addition 
to  this,  the  State  of  Georgia  had  found  it  necessary  to 
extend  her  criminal  courts  over  the  Cherokee  territory, 
in  order  to  protect  her  own  citizens. 

The  half-breeds  among  the  Cherokees  were  very 
shrewd  and  unscrupulous.  They  had  caused  some  of 
their  tribe  to  take  possession  of  lands  ceded  to  Georgia 
by  the  Creeks,  and  in  this  way  sought  to  add  confusion 
to  the  discussion  that  was  then  going  on.  The  Indians 
took  possession  by  force.  They  were  armed  and 
painted,  and  led  by  Chief  Ridge.  Fourteen  or  fifteen 
houses  were  burned  by  these  savages,  and  the  white 
women  and  children  were  left  exposed  to  the  weather, 
the  ground  being  covered  with  snow. 

The  great  trouble  with  the  Cherokees  then  and  after- 
wards was,  that  the  government  of  their  nation  had 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  half-breeds,  whose  education 
only  gave  them  fresh  opportunities  to  gain  wealth  and 
power  at  the  expense  of  the  rest  of  the  tribe.  They 
owned  trading  houses,  big  plantations,  numbers  of 
slaves,  had  charge  of  the  ferries,  and  controlled  all  the 
traffic  between  the  whites  and  the  Indians.  As  these 
half-breeds  became  wealthier,  the  rest  of  the  tribe 
became  poorer.  They  had  forsaken  their  primitive 
habits  and  customs,  and  taken  up  those  of  the  most 
depraved  whites  who  lived  among  them.  It  is  worthy 
of  note  that  the  most  progressive  spirits  among  the 


221 

Cherokees  were  in  favor  of  emigration  beyond  the  Mis- 
sissippi. The  leaders  of  this  party  were  natives  of 
unmixed  blood,  who  saw  that  the  control  of  the  corrupt 
half-breeds  was  carrying  the  nation  to  ruin.  Several  of 
these  leaders  were  waylaid  and  shot  down  by  the  agents 
of  those  whose  policy  they  were  opposing.  The  alarm 
in  some  sections  was  very  great.  The  citizens  met,  and 
adopted  resolutions  requesting  the  government  to  station 
troops  at  suitable  points,  for  the  protection  of  the  lives 
and  prope.rty  of  the  whites  and  friendly  Indians. 

Under  an  act  of  the  Legislature,  a  body  of  militia 
had  been  organized,  under  the  name  of  the  "  Georgia 
Guard."  It  was  the  duty  of  the  Guard  to  protect  the 
citizens  of  Georgia  and  the  friendly  Cherokees.  John 
Howard  Payne,  the  famous  author  of  "  Home,  Sweet 
Home,"  was  arrested  by  this  Guard.  The  poet  was 
traveling  among  the  Cherokees  for  information,  and 
was  no  doubt  ignorant  of  the  state  of  feeling  then  exist- 
ing. He  was  finally  suspected  by  the  vigilant  Georgia 
Guard  of  writing  improper  papers.  He  had  been  seen 
making  notes,  and  when  he  was  arrested  his  papers 
were  searched.  The  commander  of  the  Georgia  Guard, 
Colonel  William  N.  Bishop,  reported  to  the  governor 
that  he  had  examined  some  of  Mr.  Payne's  papers,  and 
found  some  very  improper  and  indiscreet  statements 
about  the  President,  the  government,  and  the  State 
authorities,  and  many  bitter  remarks  concerning 
Cherokee  matters.  Evidently,  Colonel  Bishop  was  of 
the  opinion,  that,  while  a  politician  or  a  newspaper 
editor  might  be  allowed  to  indulge  in  improper  and 
indiscreet  statements  about  Presidents  and  other  public 


222 

men,  a  poet  had  no  such  rights.  But  the  colonel 
finally  discharged  Mr.  Payne  from  custody,  and  the 
very  foolish  proceeding  was  condemned  by  a  resolution 
of  the  General  Assembly. 

In  1835  two  parties  had  developed  in  the  Cherokee 
nation.  One  was  in  favor  of  removal  to  the  Western 
lands,  and  the  other  was  opposed  to  removal.  John 
Ridge  headed  the  removal  party,  and  John  Ross  the 
opposition.  In  February  of  that  year  these  men  went 
to  Washington  at  the  head  of  deputations,  and  entered 
into  negotiations  with  the  General  Government.  After 
a  great  deal  of  talk,  excitement,  confusion,  and  trouble, 
the  Cherokee  people  finally  concluded  to  hold  a  meet- 
ing at  Red  Clay  in  October,  1835.  There  was  a  good 
deal  of  angry  feeling  between  those  of  the  Cherokees 
who  were  in  favor  of  a  treaty  of  removal  and  those 
who  were  opposed  to  it.  Major  Ridge,  John  Ridge, 
and  David  Vann  were  impeached  for  holding  opinions 
contrary  to  those  held  by  the  Cherokee  authorities. 
On  the  other  hand,  many  of  those  in  favor  of  removal 
met,  and  passed  resolutions,  in  which  they  declared 
that  their  people  could  not  prosper  in  the  midst  of  a 
white  population,  and  that,  while  they  loved  the  lands 
of  their  fathers,  and  would  leave  the  place  of  their 
birth  with  regret,  they  considered  that  it  would  be 
better  to  become  exiles  than  to  submit  to  the  laws  of 
the  State. 

At  the  Red  Clay  meeting,  arrangements  were  made 
for  discussing  with  the  United  States  authorities  the 
terms  of  a  treaty  of  removal.  The  Ross  party  was 
still  violently  opposed  to  removal.  John  Ross,  the 


223 

leader  of  this  party,  was  only  one  fourth  Indian,  the 
other  three  fourths  being  Scotch  and  American.  Ross 
was  very  shrewd  and  thrifty,  and  had  accumulated  a 
great  deal  of  property,  with  the  prospect  of  accumu- 
lating more..  He  had  many  sympathizers  and  admirers 
in  all  parts  of  the  country.  It  seems  to  have  been 
thought  a  wonderful  thing  in  that  day,  that  a  man 
one  quarter  Indian  should  be  able  to  read  and  write 
English,  and  make  political  speeches.  When  every- 
thing had. been  arranged  for  the  final  treaty,  and  while 
negotiations  were  going  forward,  Ross  and  his  party 
put  an  end  to  them,  and  went  to  Washington,  where 
they  hoped  to  delay  matters.  But  the  Ridge  party 
met  the  United  States  commissioners  at  New  Echota 
on  the  2  ist  of  December,  1835,  according  to  appoint- 
ment, and  on  the  2Qth  the  treaty  was  concluded.  On 
May  23,  1836,  it  was  ratified. 

By  the  terms  of  this  treaty,  the  Cherokees,  in  con- 
sideration of  the  sum  of  five  million  dollars,  relin- 
quished all  claims  to  lands  east  of  the  Mississippi.  In 
addition  to  the  money  to  be  paid,  they  were  to  receive 
seven  million  acres  of  land  west  of  the  Mississippi. 
Should  this  territory  be  found  to  be  insufficient,  the 
United  States,  in  consideration  of  five  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars,  was  to  convey  to  them  an  additional 
body  of  land.  The  land  thus  granted  was  not  to  be 
included  within  the  limits  of  any  State  at  any  future 
time.  The  Cherokees  were  guaranteed  protection 
against  domestic  strife  and  foreign  enemies,  and  it 
was  provided  that  the  tribe  should  be  entitled  to  a 
delegate  in  the  House  of  Representatives  whenever 


224 

Congress  passed  a  law  to  that  effect.  The  United 
States  authorities  were  to  remove  the  Cherokees  to 
their  new  homes,  and  to  provide  for  their  support 
for  one  year  after  they  were  settled.  There  were 
other  provisions,  all  in  favor  of  the  Cherokees.  The 
Indians  were  to  be  removed  within  two  years  after 
the  ratification  of  the  treaty. 

Ross,  and  other  leaders  opposed  to  removal,  had  gone 
to  Washington.  While  there  they  were  informed,  by 
Major  Ridge  and  others,  of  the  treaty  at  New  Echota. 
Ross  refused  to  make  any  reply  to  the  communication, 
but  tried  to  make  a  new  treaty.  He  was  told  that  he 
could  not  be  received  to  make  a  new  treaty.  The  atti- 
tude of  the  Ross  party,  together  with  certain  threats 
that  had  been  made  by  their  followers,  led  many  citi- 
zens of  Georgia  to  believe  that  the  Indians  opposed 
to  removal  would,  in  accordance  with  their  character 
and  history,  revenge  themselves  by  making  night 
attacks  on  the  unprotected  people.  Consequently 
those  most  likely  to  be  the  victims  of  such  attacks 
petitioned  the  governor  for  arms,  ammunition,  and 
troops ;  and  these  petitions  were  granted.  A  battalion 
of  militia  was  raised,  and  placed  at  Lashley's  Ferry 
on  the  Coosa  River,  with  orders  to  keep  the  Chero- 
kees in  check,  and  also  to  prevent  the  Creeks  from 
coming  into  Georgia.  Many  of  the  Cherokees  were 
disarmed ;  and  five  hundred  muskets,  with  ammunition, 
were  sent  inte  Cherokee  County,  for  the  use  of  the 
people  in  the  event  of  any  hostile  movement  on  the 
part  of  the  Indians. 

The  State  of  Georgia  was  to  take  possession  of  the 


225 

territory  ceded  by  the  treaty  on  the  twenty-fourth  day 
of  May,  1838,  and  the  military  were  got  in  readiness  for 
removing  the  Indians.  General  Scott,  of  the  United 
States  army,  called  on  the  governor  of  Georgia  for  two 
regiments,  and  to  this  call  there  was  a  prompt  response. 
By  the  iSth  of  May  enough  men  had  arrived  at  New 
Echota,  where  the  troops  were  to  assemble,  to  organize 
a  regiment;  and  on  the  morning  of  the  24th  the  troops 
took  up  the  line  of  march  for  the  purpose  of  collecting 
the  Indians.  This  continued  until  the  3d  of  June, 
when  the  troops  and  the  Indians  started  for  Ross's 
Landing  on  the  Tennessee  River.  About  fifteen  hun- 
dred Indians  had  been  collected  by  the  Georgia  troops, 
and  these  troops  were  then  dismissed  from  the  service 
of  the  United  States. 

The  rest  of  the  work  was  done  by  the  regular  army, 
which,  being  divided  into  small  detachments,  went  about 
the  Cherokee  country,  making  prisoners  of  family  after 
family,  and  carrying  them  to  the  camps.  The  most 
careful  arrangements  had  been  made  to  prevent  cruelty 
or  disorder,  and  there  has  never  been  any  complaint 
as  to  the  manner  in  which  the  troops  performed  their 
duty.  Nearly  the  whole  nation  had  been  gathered  into 
camps  by  the  end  of  June.  At  that  time  some  of 
the  Indians  began  their  march  to  the  West;  but  the 
great  body  of  the  tribe,  fourteen  thousand  in  number, 
did  not  begin  their  westward  journey  until  September, 
owing  to  the  hot  weather.  Every  arrangement  that 
could  be  suggested  was  made  for  the  comfort  of  the 
Indians  in  their  march ;  but  from  May,  when  the 
removal  began,  to  the  time  when  the  last  company 

STO.  OF  GA. —  15 


226 

had  completed  its  journey,  more  than  four  thousand 
persons  died. 

One  year  afterwards,  on  the  22d  of  June,  1839, 
Major  Ridge,  John  Ridge,  and  Elias  Boudinot,  all  of 
whom  had  taken  an  active  part  in  negotiating  the 
treaty  of  removal,  were  assassinated. 

Since  their  removal  the  Cherokees  have  prospered  to 
a  greater  extent  than  any  other  Indian  tribe.  They 
have  a  government  of  their  own,  flourishing  schools, 
and  books  and  newspapers  printed  in  their  own  lan- 
guage. It  is  the  only  tribe  of  American  Indians  that 
has  shown  any  desire  or  ability  to  share  in  the  benefits 
of  civilization. 


THE  BEGINNING  OF   PARTIES  IN   GEORGIA. 

THE  first  serious  political  division  in  Georgia  after 
the  Revolution  had  a  very  curious  beginning. 
There  is  always,  of  course,  a  division  among  the 
people  on  great  public  questions  as  they  arise.  But 
the  War  of  the  Revolution  had  so  solidified  public  sen- 
timent that  nothing  occurred  to  jar  it  until  the  Yazoo 
Fraud  created  some  division.  Even  then  public  senti- 
ment was  so  overwhelmingly  opposed  to  the  sale  of  the 
lands  to  the  speculators,  that  the  few  who  favored  it 
were  not  numerous  nor  respectable  enough  to  be  called 
a  party. 

On  the  24th  of  February,  1806,  Mr.  Josiah  Glass, 
having  come  all  the  way  from  North  Carolina  in  search 
of  a  Mr.  Robert  Clary,  went  to  the  town  of  Sparta  with 
a  warrant  which  he  requested  Judge  Charles  Tait  to 
indorse.  This  Judge  Tait  did  in  due  form.  The  war- 
rant was  for  negro  stealing,  and  was  directed  against 
Mr.  Robert  Clary.  Mr.  Clary  was  arrested  by  Mr. 
Josiah  Glass  in  Washington  County,  and  was  carried 
to  Greene  County  Superior  Court.  On  the  first  day 
of  the  court,  Mr.  Josiah  Glass  wrote  a  letter  to  Judge 
Tait,  and  requested  him  to  attend,  and  take  the  examina- 
tion of  a  man  then  in  his  custody,  who  would  make  con- 
fessions highly  interesting  to  the  State  and  the  United 

227 


228 


: 


vsss 


sup- 
con- 


States.  Judge  Tait,  accompanied  by  Squire  Oliver 
Skinner,  attended  that  night,  and  took  a  part  of  the 
confessions  of  Mr.  Robert  Clary,  and  completed  them 
the  following  night.  Then  he  gave  Mr.  Josiah  Glass  a 
certified  copy  of  the  same  to  take  with  him  to  North 
Carolina,  to  which  State  he  was  taking  Mr.  Robert 
Clary,  on  a  warrant  charging  him  with  negro  stealing. 

Now,  it  seems  that  the  warrant 
against  Clary  was  merely  intended 
I  as  a  scheme  to  get  him  to 
North  Carolina  to  testily 
against  a  man 
named  Collins. 
History  has 
pressed  the 
fessions  made  by 
Mr.  Robert  Clary ; 
but  it  is  certain 
that  they  contained 
a  most  offensive 
charge  against 
General  John  Clarke,  whose  patriotic 
services  in  behalf  of  the  people  dur- 
ing the  Revolution  gave  him  great  fame  and  popularity. 
No  sooner  did  John  Clarke  hear  of  this  affair  than  he 
proceeded  to  act  with  his  usual  promptness.  When  he 
learned  the  particulars  about  the  taking  of  the  affidavit 
at  night,  he  at  once  jumped  to  the  conclusion  that  he  had 
been  made  the  victim  of  a  conspiracy.  There  had  been 
some  disagreement  between  him  and  Hon.  William  H. 
Crawford ;  and  as  Judge  Tait  had  been  the  partner  of 


229 

Mr.  Crawford,  and  was  his  firm  friend,  —  for  Crawford 
was  a  man  great  enough  to  command  and  deserve 
friends,  —  General  Clarke  suspected  that  Clary  and 
Glass  had  been  made  tools  of  to  damage  his  reputation. 
General  Clarke  acted  at  once.  He  presented  a 
memorial  to  the  Legislature,  making  certain  charges 
against  Judge  Tait  with  respect  to  the  taking  of  the 
"  dark-lantern  affidavits,"  as  they  were  called  by  his 
friends.  The  Legislature  found,  as  it  ought  to  have 
done,  that  the  charges  made  in  the  memorial  of  Gen- 
eral Clarke  were  unsupported  by  fact  or  evidence.  In 
the  very  nature  of  things,  it  could  not  be  shown  that  an 
honorable  judge  of  the  Superior  Court  of  Georgia,  in 
certifying  to  an  affidavit  containing  the  confession  of  a 
mere  adventurer,  was  engaged  in  a  conspiracy;  but  the 
question  with  which  General  Clarke  had  to  deal  was, 
how  did  the  offensive  and  malicious  matter,  contained 
in  an  affidavit  taken  by  a  judge  and  one  witness  at 
night,  become  public  property  ?  If  General  Clarke  had 
been  a  more  thoroughgoing  politician,  he  would  have 
found  a  better  way  to  confound  his  enemies  than  that 
which  he  adopted  ;  but  he  was  deeply  wounded  by  a 
foul  charge  made  at  night,  and  put  in  circulation  by 
means  of  nods  and  winks  and  whispers.  His  first 
recourse  was  to  the  Legislature,  consequently  it  had 
the  effect  of  strengthening  both  his  friends  and  his 
enemies.  His  friends  were  indignant  at  the  action  of 
the  Legislature.  His  enemies  professed  to  be  aston- 
ished that  arrogance  should  fly  so  high  as  to  bring  be- 
fore the  Legislature  unfounded  charges  against  a  judge 
of  the  superior  courts. 


230 

The  legislative  record  is  not  as  full  as  it  might  be. 
There  was  something  behind  the  Clary  business  that 
does  not  appear  on  the  records  of  the  House  and 
Senate.  General  Clarke  wrote  a  pamphlet  entitled  ''A 
Legacy  for  My  Children,"  in  which,  according  to  Judge 
Garnett  Andrews  (see  "  Reminiscences  of  an  Old  Georgia 
Lawyer"),  the  matter  of  his  memorial  to  the  Legislature 
is  differently  stated.  According  to  Judge  Andrews,  who 
bases  his  authority  on  General  Clarke's  pamphlet  and 
on  the  testimony  of  those  who  were  familiar  with  the 
facts,  Clary  was  arrested  and  carried  before  Judge  Tait 
on  a  charge  of  stealing  horses.  Clary  charged  General 
Clarke  with  complicity.  Mr.  Crawford  was  the  prose- 
cuting attorney.  General  Clarke  accused  Judge  Tait 
and  Mr.  Crawford  with  instigating  Clary  to  make  the 
charge. 

The  truth  seems  to  be,  that  Clary,  knowing  the  differ- 
ences that  existed  between  these  distinguished  men, 
sought  to  help  his  own  case  by  making  the  charge 
against  General  Clarke,  and  that  the  latter  was  quite 
ready  to  believe  that  his  two  opponents  had  originated 
the  charges  for  the  purpose  of  doing  him  a  mortal 
injury.  Feeling  assured  of  the  justice  of  his  cause,  he 
appealed  to  the  Legislature.  This  failing,  he  took  the 
matter  into  his  own  hands.  He  challenged  Mr.  Craw- 
ford, shot  him  through  the  wrist,  and  then  challenged 
him  again.  A  little  later,  cantering  along  a  street  in 
Milledgeville  on  his  fine  sorrel  horse,  General  Clarke 
saw  Judge  Tait  before  him  in  a  sulky.  He  spurred  his 
horse  forward,  and  laid  his  whip  across  the  judge's 
shoulders  two  or  three  times. 


231 

These  events  created  great  excitement  throughout  the 
State.  There  had  already  been  controversy  and  divi- 
sion caused  by  the  duel  between  Mr.  Crawford  and  Van 
Allen,  a  cousin  of  President  Van  Buren,  and  at  that 
time  attorney-general  of  the  State.  Van  Allen  was 
killed  ;  and  there  was  a  great  controversy  in  Georgia, 
in  consequence,  as  to  who  was  right  and  who  was 
wrong.  This  excitement  became  furious  in  the  course 


of  the  contest  between  Clarke  and  Crawford.  Craw- 
ford was  fortunately  lifted  out  of  it  by  being  made  a 
United  States  senator  in  1807.  His  distinguished 
career  afterwards  is  well  known.  He  was  minister  to 
France,  secretary  of  the  treasury,  Vice-President  of 
the  United  States,  and  would  have  been  elected  Presi- 
dent but  for  reports  circulated  throughout  the  country 
that  he  had  been  stricken  down  with  a  fatal  illness. 
But  the  contest  between  the  Clarke  and  Crawford  par- 


232 

ties  continued  to  rage.  Whatever  issue  the  Clarke  men 
were  favorable  to,  the  Crawford  men  opposed.  What- 
ever scheme  the  Clarke  men  suggested,  the  Crawford 
men  fought.  There  was  nothing  polite  about  the  con- 
test. People  who  wore  gloves  pulled  them  off.  In 
cold  weather  the  voters  were  warm,  and  in  hot  weather 
they  were  steaming.  The  contest  went  on  before 
elections,  and  was  kept  up  with  just  as  much  energy 
after  elections.  No  vote  could  settle  it,  and  no  suc- 
cess could  quiet  it.  It  was  in  the  nature  of  a  politi- 
cal squabble,  covering  the  whole  State,  dividing  districts, 
counties,  cities,  towns,  villages,  settlements,  beats,  cross- 
roads groceries,  and  families.  It  was  a  knock-down- 
and-drag-out  fight,  in  which  hair  pulling,  gouging,  and 
biting  were  allowed. 

While  Crawford  was  advancing  step  by  step  in 
national  politics,  his  party  in  Georgia  took  up  George 
M.  Troup,  one  of  the  most  brilliant  and  aggressive 
men  in  the  State.  The  contest  had  been  going  on 
for  twenty  years  when  Troup  came  upon  the  scene, 
in  1830,  as  a  candidate  for  governor.  He  had  been 
a  member  of  the  State  Legislature,  a  representative  in 
Congress,  and  a  United  States  senator :  therefore  in 
1820,  when  he  was  nominated  for  governor  by  the 
Crawford  party,  he  was  ripe  in  experience.  He  was 
forty  years  old,  and  full  of  'the  fire  and  energy  that 
marked  his  whole  career.  The  Crawford  party  now 
became  the  Troup  party,  and  the  contests  that  fol- 
lowed were  the  most  exciting  that  ever  took  place  in 
the  State  before,  or  that  have  ever  taken  place  since. 

At  that  time  the  General  Assembly  elected  the  gov- 


233 

ernor,  the  people  selecting  members  favorable  to  the 
candidates  they  preferred.  As  the  result  of  the  first 
campaign  between  the  Clarke  and  Troup  parties,  Gen- 
eral John  Clarke  was  elected  by  a  majority  of  thirteen 
legislative  votes.  When  Governor  Clarke's  term  ex- 
pired, he  was  again  opposed  by  Troup,  and  was  again 
elected,  but  this  time  by  a  majority  of  only  two  legis- 
lative votes.  In  1823,  Matthew  Talbot  represented  the 
Clarke  party,  but  was  defeated  by  Troup.  In  1825, 
General  Clarke  again  entered  the  contest.  The  elec- 
tion was  no  longer  in  the  hands  of  the  Legislature, 
but  was  by  popular  vote.  Governor  Troup's  treat- 
ment of  the  Indian  question,  and  the  firm  stand  he 
had  taken  in  favor  of  the  rights  of  the  State,  had 
materially  increased  his  influence,  and  he  was  elected 
over  Clarke  by  a  majority  of  683  votes. 

Curious  to  relate,  the  old  Clarke  party  became  the 
Union  party,  and  in  1840  was  the  Democratic  party. 
The  Crawford  party  became  the  States  Rights  party, 
and  in  1840  was  the  Whig  party.  Such  was  the  evolu- 
tion of  parties  in  Georgia. 


A    QUEER   CASE. 


L  Ljy 


A 


VERY      queer, 
not  to  say  mys- 
terious     case,      was 
brought    to   trial    in 
Jones     County     in 
1837,   at  the    April 
term  of  the  Superior 
Court.     It    has    had 
no      parallel      in 
Georgia  before  or 
since,      and     had 
none  in  any  other 
country,  so    far    as 
the   present  writer  is 
aware,  until   the    cele- 
brated   Tichborne    case 

was  brought  to  trial  in  England  a  few  years  ago.  The 
Bunkley  case  created  quite  as  much  excitement,  and 
caused  quite  as  much  division  in  public  opinion  in 
Georgia,  as  the  Tichborne  case  did  in  England. 

Jesse  L.  Bunkley  belonged  to  a  good  family  in 
Jones  County,  and  when  he  came  of  age  would  have 
fallen  heir  to  an  estate  worth  forty  thousand  dollars. 
An  effort  was  made  to  give  him  all  the  advantages 

234   - 


235 

of  education,  but  these  he  refused  to  accept.  He 
was  a  wild  boy,  and  was  fonder  of  wild  company 
than  of  his  books.  He  went  to  school  for  a  while 
in  Eatonton,  but  got  into  some  scrape  there  and  ran 
away.  He  was  afterwards  sent  to  Franklin  College, 
now  the  State  University,  where  he  entered  the  gram- 
mar school.  Such  discipline  as  they  had  in  those  days 
was  irksome  to  young  Bunkley,  and  he  soon  grew  tired 
of  it.  He  left  the  college,  and,  after  roving  about  for 
a  while,  returned  to  his  home  in  Jones  County.  In 
his  twentieth  year,  1825,  being  well  supplied  with 
money,  he  left  his  home  for  the  purpose  of  traveling. 
He  went  to  the  Southwest,  and  in  that  year  wrote  to 
his  mother  from  New  Orleans. 

No  other  letter  was  received  from  him  during  that 
year  or  the  next,  and  in  1827  word  was  brought  to 
Jones  County  that  Jesse  Bunkley  was  dead.  The 
rumor,  for  it  seems  to  have  been  nothing  more,  was 
regarded  by  the  family  as  true.  At  any  rate,  no 
attempt  was  made  to  investigate  it.  Jesse  was  the 
black  sheep  of  the  family ;  he  had  been  away  from 
home  a  good  deal ;  his  conduct  when  at  home  had 
not  been  such  as  to  commend  him  to  the  affections 
of  his  people ;  and  his  mother  had  married  a  third 
husband,  a  man  named  Lowther :  consequently  the 
vague  news  of  the  young  man's  death  was  probably 
received  with  a  feeling  of  relief.  There  was  always  a 
probability  that  such  a  wild  and  dissipated  youngster 
would  come  to  some  bad  end ;  but  with  his  death  that 
probability  ceased  to  be  even  a  possibility,  and  so,  no 
doubt  with  a  sigh  of  relief,  young  Bunkley's  people 


236 

put  aside  the  memory  of  him.  He  was  dead  and 
buried.  Those  who  survived  him  were  more  than 
willing  to  take  the  care  and  trouble  of  managing  the 
estate  which  young  Bunkley  would  have  inherited  had 
he  returned  and  claimed  it. 

But  in  1833,  Major  Smith  of  Jones  County  received 
a  letter  purporting  to  b^  from  Jesse  L.  Bunkley,  and 
it  related  to  matters  that  both  Smith  and  Bunkley 
were  familiar  with.  In  December,  1833,  Mrs.  Lowther, 
his  mother,  received  a  letter  from  a  person  claiming 
to  be  her  son  Jesse.  The  letter  was  dated  at  the 
New  Orleans  prison.  It  appears  from  this  letter  that 
the  family  of  Bunkley  had  already  taken  steps  to 
disown  the  person  who  had  written  to  Major  Smith, 
and  who  claimed  to  be  Jesse  Bunkley.  The  letter  to 
Mrs.  Lowther  was  very  awkwardly  written.  It  was 
misspelled,  and  bore  no  marks  of  punctuation  ;  and 
yet  it  is  just  such  a  letter  as  might  be  written  by  a 
man  who  took  no  interest  in  his  books  when  a  school- 
boy, and  had  had  no  occasion  to  look  into  them  or 
to  handle  a  pen.  He  said  in  this  letter  that  he  wrote 
to  convince  his  mother  that  he  was  her  own  child, 
though  it  appeared  that  she  wished  to  disown  him. 
This,  he  declared  in  his  awkward  way,  he  knew  no 
reason  for,  unless  it  was  on  account  of  his  past  folly. 
He  then  went  on  to  relate  some  facts  about  the  family 
and  his  own  school  days.  The  mother  did  not  answer 
this  letter,  because,  as  she  said  afterwards  on  the  wit- 
ness stand,  she  did  not  consider  that  it  was  from  her 
son.  She  was  satisfied,  she  said,  that  the  letter  was 
not  in  her  .son's  handwriting. 


237 

The  person  claiming  to  be  Jesse  L.  Bunkley  reached 
Jones  County  some  time  afterwards.  His  case,  in  the 
nature  of  things,  excited  great  public  interest.  Hun- 
dreds of  people  who  had  known  Jesse  recognized  him 
in  this  claimant.  On  the  other  hand,  hundreds  who 
had  also  known  Bunkley  when  a  boy  failed  to  recog- 
nize him  in  the  claimant.  Meanwhile  those  who  had 
charge  of  the  Bunkley  property  took  prompt  action. 
They  went  before  the  grand  jury,  and  had  the  claimant 
indicted  -for  cheating  and  swindling ;  and  thus  began 
the  celebrated  case  of  the  State  against  Elijah  Barber, 
alias  Jesse  L.  Bunkley. 

The  claimant  came  to  Jones  County  in  1836,  was 
indicted  in  that  year,  and  his  case  was  brought  to  trial 
in  the  Superior  Court  in  April,  1837.  A  great  deal  of 
time  was  taken  up  in  the  investigation.  More  than  one 
hundred  and  thirty  witnesses  were  examined.  Ninety- 
eight,  the  majority  of  these  being  disinterested  persons, 
declared  that  they  believed  the  claimant  to  be  an  im- 
postor. More  than  forty  disinterested  persons  declared 
under  oath  that  they  believed  the  claimant  to  be  Jesse 
L.  Bunkley,  and  the  majority  of  these  last  witnesses 
had  known  Bunkley  long  and  intimately. 

The  efforts  of  the  prosecution  were  directed  to  show- 
ing that  the  man  claiming  to  be  Jesse  Bunkley  was  in 
reality  Elijah  Barber,  who  in  1824—25  was  a  wagoner 
who  hauled  lumber  from  Grace's  Mill  near  Macon,  who 
was  also  known  in  Upson  County,  and  who  had  served 
in  the  Florida  war.  Some  of  the  witnesses  who  had 
never  known  Bunkley  recognized  the  claimant  as  a  man 
who  had  called  himself  Barber.  Some  of  the  witnesses 


238 


1« 


239 

who  had  known  Jesse  from  his  boyhood  testified  that 
they  recognized  the  claimant  as  Bunkley  on  sight. 
Bunkley  had  various  scars  on  his  face,  neck,  and  body. 
The  claimant  exhibited  all  these  to  the  jury.  One  of 
the  witnesses  remembered  that  Bunkley  bore  the  marks 
of  a  snake  bite  on  one  of  his  legs.  The  claimant  imme- 
diately showed  these  marks.  Hundreds  of  questions 
had  been  put  to  the  claimant  to  test  his  memory.  A 
great  many  he  answered  correctly,  a  great  many  others 
he  failed  to  answer;  but  his  replies  to  all  vital  questions 
were  wonderfully  clear  and  satisfactory.  The  jury  was 
out  but  a  short  time  before  it  returned,  bringing  in  a 
verdict  of  guilty ;  and  the  claimant  was  sentenced  to 
the  penitentiary,  where  he  served  out  his  term. 

This  verdict  and  sentence  settled  the  case  in  law,  but 
it  remained  as  unsettled  as  ever  in  the  public  mind. 
The  writer  of  this  has  heard  it  discussed  on  more  than 
one  occasion  among  old  ladies  and  gentlemen  who 
knew  Bunkley,  and  who  saw  the  claimant ;  and,  without 
exception,  they  declared  that  the  verdict  of  the  jury 
was  cruelly  unjust. 

And  yet,  if  any  wrong  was  done,  Bunkley  himself 
was  to  blame  for  it.  Being  a  young  man  of  fortune 
and  of  the  fairest  prospects,  he  owed  it  to  himself,  his 
family,  his  friends,  and  to  society  at  large,  to  become  a 
good  citizen,  so  that  his  ample  means  might  be  properly 
employed.  Instead  of  that,  he  became  a  rowdy  and  a 
rioter,  spending  his  days  and  his  nights  in  evil  company 
and  in  dissipation.  If  the  claimant  in  this  mysterious 
case  was  really  Jesse  Bunkley,  it  may  be  said  of  him 
that  his  sins  had  found  him  out. 


GEORGIA   WIT    AND    HUMOR. 

THE  wit  and  humor  of  Georgia  stand  by  themselves. 
They  have  no  counterpart  in  any  other  section  of 
the  country.  Many  attempts  have  been  made  to  imitate 
them,  but  there  is  always  something  lacking.  The 
flavor,  the  "bouquet,"  the  aroma,  is  gone.  The  sun, 
the  soil,  the  air,  and  even  the  spring  water,  seem  to 
have  something  to  do  with  it.  Just  what,  nobody 
knows.  Wit  and  humor  are  elusive,  —  they  are  unsub- 
stantial. On  the  other  hand,  the  Georgia  watermelon 
is  something  solid.  It  may  be  handled  and  felt.  It 
may  be  "  thumped  "  and  "  plugged  "  and  tested.  Those 
who  know  what  a  watermelon  is  and  should  be,  know 
that  there  is  none  to  compare  with  the  melons  that 
are  grown  in  Georgia,  no  matter  what  the  variety. 
The  same  may  be  said  of  the  wit  and  humor  that 
belong  to  Georgia.  An  old  man  —  Uncle  Tom  Norris 
he  was  called,  on  account  of  his  gray  hairs  —  was  once 
heard  to  say  (speaking  professionally),  "  Let  me  clap 
a  drop  of  the  low-wines  to  my  tongue,  and  I'll  tell  you 
what  branch  the  fire  was  kindled  on."  He  was  a  dis- 
tiller, and  knew  his  business.  One  need  not  be  an 
expert  to  say  the  same  of  Georgia  humor.  It  is  almost 
possible  to  tell  the  very  militia  district  in  which  it 
originated.  It  carries  not  only  the  flavor,  but  the  color. 

240 


241 

For  a  hundred  years  Georgia  has  remained  the  most 
democratic  part  of  the  country.  The  sons  of  the  richest 
men  were  put  in  the  fields  to  work  side  by  side  with  the 
negroes,  and  were  thus  taught  to  understand  the  impor- 
tance of  individual  effort  that  leads  to  personal  inde- 
pendence. It  thus  happened  that  there  was  a  cordial, 
and  even  an  affectionate,  understanding  between  the 
slaves  and  their  owners,  that  perhaps  had  no  parallel 
elsewhere.  The  poorer  whites  had  no  reason  to  hold 
their  heads  down  because  they  had  to  work  for  their 
living.  The  richest  slave  owners  did  not  feel  them- 
selves above  those  who  had  few  negroes  or  none. 
When  a  man  called  his  neighbor  "  Colonel,"  or  "Judge," 
it  was  to  show  his  respect,  nothing  more.  For  the  rest, 
the  humblest  held  their  heads  as  high  as  the  richest, 
and  were  as  quick,  perhaps  quicker,  in  a  quarrel. 

The  Virginians  and  North  Carolinians  who  settled  in 
the  Broad  River  region  intermarried,  and  spread  out 
over  middle  Georgia.  Those  who  were  not  akin  were 
bound  to  each  other  by  ties  of  long  acquaintanceship ; 
but  the  homogeneousness  of  the  people,  complete  and 
thorough  as  it  was,  was  not  marked  by  any  monotony. 
On  the  contrary,  character  and  individuality  ran  riot, 
appearing  in  such  strange  and  attractive  shapes  as  to 
puzzle  and  bewilder  even  those  who  were  familiar  with 
the  queer  manifestations.  Every  settlement  had  its 
peculiarities,  and  every  neighborhood  boasted  of  its 
humorist,  —  its  clown,  whose  pranks  and  jests  were  lim- 
ited by  no  license.  Out  of  this  has  grown  a  literature 
which,  in  some  of  its  characteristics,  is  not  matched  else- 
where on  the  globe  ;  but  that  which  has  been  preserved 

STO.  OF  GA. —  1 6 


242 

by  printing  is  not  comparable,  either  in  volume  or 
merit,  with  the  great  body  of  humor  that  has  perished 
because  of  the  lack  of  some  one  industrious  enough  to 
chronicle  it. 

One  of  the  most  perfect  types  of  the  Georgia  humor- 
ist was  the  late  John  M.  Dooly.  Judge  Dooly  was  a 
remarkable  man  in  other  respects,  but  it  is  his  wonder- 
ful fund  of  humor  that  has  made  his  name  famous  in 
Georgia  and  throughout  the  country.  It  has  been  told 
in  these  pages  how  Colonel  John  Dooly  was  dragged 
from  his  bed  by  the  Tories  and  murdered.  This  Colo- 
nel Dooly  was  the  father  of  John  M.,  who  was  hid 
under  the  bed  when  the  Tories  dragged  his  father  out 
and  murdered  him.  It  might  be  supposed  that  such 
an  event  would  have  a  tendency  to  give  a  boy  a  very 
serious  view  of  life.  Judge  Dooly's  views  were  no 
doubt  serious  enough  ;  but  they  were  overwhelmed  and 
overpowered  by  a  temperament  which  found  cause  for 
laughter  in  almost  every  person  and  passing  event,  and 
was  the  cause  of  innocent  mirth  in  others. 

Judge  Dooly  was  born  in  what  he  called  the  "  Dark 
Corner"  of  Lincoln  County,  which  had  not  then  been 
cut  off  from  Wilkes.  After  the  murder  of  his  father, 
the  family  was  left  in  poverty.  When  he  went  to 
Washington,  the  county  seat  of  Wilkes  County,  to  read 
law  with  Mr.  Matthews,  the  clothes  he  wore  were  in 
such  a  condition  that  he  was  compelled  to  confine  him- 
self to  the  office  in  the  daytime.  He  was  very  poor 
and  very  bright.  Old  people  who  knew  him  when  a 
boy,  described  him  to  Judge  Garnett  Andrews  as  "  a 
sallow,  piney-woods-looking  lad."  "  Piney-woods  peo- 


243 


.  pie  "  was  the  local  name  for  the  tackles,  the  clay  eaters, 
the  no-accounts,  that  had  settled  about  on  the  poorer 
lands  in  that  section  of  Georgia,  and  given  themselves 
over  to  thriftlessness  for  good  and  all.  But  young 
Dooly  had  that  within  him  which  made  him  superior 
to  the  conditions  and  limitations  of  poverty.  Apart 
from  his  remarkable  gift  of  humor, 
he  had  a  native  brilliancy  of  mind 
that  gave  him  an  easy  mastery 
over  the  principles  of  law  that 
he  found  in  the  books.  He 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
1798,  and  was  immediately 
successful  as  a  lawyer.  His 
education  had  been  limited 
to  that  which  he  found  in 
the  "  old  field  schools,"  and 
in  that  day  they  were  not  of 
the  best ;  but  such  a  mind 
as  his  needed  only  the  rudi- 
ments, the  rest  came  as  by 
instinct. 

Judge  Dooly  was  not  a  student 
while  practicing  at  the  bar.  He  had  thoroughly  mastered 
the  principles,  the  groundwork,  of  the  law  ;  and  his  mind, 
as  logical  as  it  was  brilliant,  fitted  these  principles  to 
every  case  he  had  charge  of.  His  love  of  humor,  and  his 
fondness  for  the  society  of  those  who  preferred  fun  and 
frolic,  placed  many  temptations  in  his  way,  and  some 
of  these  he  did  not  always  resist ;  but  the  faults  he 
had  were  the  faults  of  the  time  in  which  he  lived,  the 


244 

faults  of  the  society  in  which  he  was  brought  up  and 
by  which  he  was  surrounded.  Judge  Dooly  has  been 
described  by  a  contemporary  as  having  a  large  head, 
with  a  bold,  high  forehead,  heavy  eyebrows,  prominent 
nose,  a  small  compressed  mouth,  and  large,  vivid,  spar- 
kling eyes,  which,  when  the  spirit  of  humor  had  po§ses- 
sion  of  him,  illuminated  his  countenance  as  if  an  electric 
battery  were  in  play. 

On  one  occasion,  Judge  Dooly  had  been  challenged 
by  Judge  Tait,  —  the  same  Judge  Tait  who  had  made 
himself  so  obnoxious  to  General  John  Clarke.  Judge 
Tait  had  a  wooden  leg ;  and  Judge  Dooly,  in  replying 
to  the  challenge,  referred  to  this  fact,  and  said  he  did 
not  think  they  could  fight  on  equal  terms.  He  hoped 
his  refusal  would  not  be  interpreted  as  a  reflection  on 
the  misfortunes  of  Judge  Tait.  This  reply  made  Judge 
Tait  more  indignant  than  ever.  He  wrote  a  severe 
reply,  suggesting  to  Judge  Dooly  that  his  refusal  to 
fight  was  the  result  of  cowardice  rather  than  a  desire 
not  to  shed  the  blood  of  an  unfortunate  cripple.  In 
answer  to  this  insinuation,  Judge  Dooly  declared 
boldly  that  he  was  ready  to  fight  his  adversary  on  any- 
thing like  equal  terms.  He  announced  that  he  would 
meet  Judge  Tait  anywhere,  on  any  day,  and  exchange  a 
shot  with  him,  provided  he  (Judge  Dooly)  was  allowed 
to  stand  on  the  field  of  honor  with  one  leg  in  a  bee- 
gum  !  The  bee-gums  of  that  day  were  made  of  sections 
of  hollow  trees.  Naturally  this  remarkable  proposition 
made  Judge  Tait  madder  than  ever,  and  he  wrote  to 
Judge  Dooly  that  he  intended  to  publish  him  as  a 
coward.  Judge  Dooly  calmly  informed  Judge  Tait  by 


245 

letter  that  he  had  no  sort  of  objection  to  the  publication, 
provided  it  was  at  Tait's  expense.  He  declared,  that, 
for  his  part,  he  would  rather  fill  a  dozen  newspapers 
than  one  coffin.  These  unexpected  strokes  of  humor 
disarmed  the  anger  of  Judge  Tait,  and  set  the  whole 
State  in  a  roar.  They  did  more  :  they  cleared  the  politi- 
cal atmosphere,  and  took  the  edge  off  of  party  rancor, 
which  was  at  that  time  very  fierce  and  keen. 

Once,  whe-n  dining  at  a  public  table,  Dooly  said 
something  or  did  something  to  irritate  Major  Freeman 
Walker.  The  latter,  remarking  that  he  had  borne  with 
the  liberties  taken  by  Judge  Dooly  quite  long  enough, 
said  he  proposed  to  resent  them  then  and  there.  The 
attack  on  his  feelings  had  been  made  in  public,  and 
he  proposed  to  resent  it  in  public.  Seizing  a  chair, 
he  advanced  on  Judge  Dooly.  The  judge  seized  a 
carving  knife,  and  braced  himself  for  defense.  Several 
gentlemen  caught  hold  of  the  judge  to  prevent  him 
from  using  the  knife,  while  only  one  held  Major 
Walker.  Surveying  the  scene,  Judge  Dooly  calmly 
remarked,  "  Gentlemen,  one  of  you  will  be  sufficient  to 
prevent  me  from  doing  any  mischief.  The  rest  of  you 
had  better  hold  Walker."  The  explosion  that  this  re- 
mark created  put  even  Major  Walker  in  good  humor, 
and  he  and  the  judge  settled  their  differences  in  the 
most  amiable  and  rational  manner. 

When  the  Legislature  passed  severe  laws  against 
gaming,  Judge  Dooly  enforced  them  rigidly.  Some 
of  the  gamblers  were  brought  to  trial  and  fined,  and 
others  were  only  saved  from  arrest  by  the  fact  that 
they  kept  out  of  the  way  when  court  was  in  session. 


246 

But  one  night  in  Washington,  Wilkes  County,  after  the 
judge  had  been  holding  court  all  the  week  and  had 
closed  the  term,  he  went  to  his  room  in  the  hotel  and 
made  all  preparations  to  retire.  He  had  barely  settled 
himself  in  bed,  when  he  heard  a  noise  in  an  adjoining 
room,  and  soon  discovered  that  a  game  of  faro  was 
going  on.  The  noise  disturbed  him  so,  that  he  dressed 
himself,  went  to  the  room,  and  told  the  players,  that, 
having  tried  all  legal  methods  to  break  them  up,  and 
failed,  he  was  now  determined  to  try  another  plan. 
He  thereupon  seated  himself  at  the  table,  and  before 
the  night  was  spent  broke  the  bank.  He  then  told 
the  gamblers  to  clear  out,  and  be  more  careful  in 
future  how  they  interfered  with  the  court. 

Once  when  sitting  up  late  at  night,  trying  a  very 
complicated  case,  the  sheriff  voluntarily  placed  on  the 
bench  beside  the  judge  a  small  pitcher  half  filled  with 
toddy.  When  he  had  finished  the  toddy,  the  judge 
called  to  the  officer,  "  Mr.  Sheriff,  fetch  in  some 
more  water  out  of  the  same  spring."  A  murder  case 
was  once  tried  before  him.  The  point  in  the  case  was 
whether  the  prisoner  had  shot  in  self-defense.  There 
was  a  good  deal  said  by  the  lawyers  about  the  right 
to  shoot.  The  jury,  intending  to  justify  the  prisoner, 
brought  in  this  verdict :  "  The  prisoner  has  a  right  to 
shoot."  When  this  verdict  was  read  to  the  court,  the 
judge  held  up  his  hands  in  pretended  alarm,  and  cried 
out,  "  Mr.  Sheriff,  don't  let  him  shoot  this  way  !  " 

A  story  is  told  of  Judge  Dooly  and  Tom  Peter 
Games,  another  rare  humorist,  that  fairly  illustrates 
the  statement  made  in  the  beginning  of  this  chapter 


247 

in  regard  to  the  plain  and  democratic  character  of 
the  people  who  settled  Middle  Georgia.  Dooly  and 
his  friend  Carnes  were  traveling  to  court,  having  gone 
without  breakfast  in  order  to  be  up  and  on  their  way 
at  an  early  hour.  At  last  they  reached  the  place  where 
they  were  to  get  breakfast,  and  called  for  it  with  some 
show  of  impatience.  The  lady  of  the  house,  however, 
was  in  no  hurry.  She  said  that  they  should  have  break- 
fast the  moment  Charles  came.  So  she  called  for 
Charles,  blew  the  horn  for  Charles,  and  finally  sent 
for  Charles.  When  Charles  put  in  an  appearance,  the 
two  travelers  found  that  he  was  a  big  negro,  so  black 
and  fat  that  he  fairly  glistened  when  the  sun  shone 
on  him.  Naturally  Dooly  and  Carnes  were  surprised. 
They  were  still  more  surprised  when  the  negro's  mis- 
tress said  in  a  coaxing  tone,  "  Now,  Charles,  I  do 
wish  you  would  sit  down  and  let  the  gentlemen  eat, 
as  they  are  in  a  hurry  to  go  to  court."  Charles  didn't 
like  so  much  company  ;  but  he  finally  sat  down  to  the 
table,  on  which  there  was  a  big  bowl  of  clabber,  three 
"  hunks "  of  corn  bread,  and  three  pewter  spoons. 
"  Now,  Charles,"  said  the  woman,  "  do  eat,  and  then 
the  gentlemen  will  begin."  Making  the  best  of  the 
situation,  and  somewhat  enjoying  the  humor  of  it, 
Dooly  and  Carnes  sat  down  at  the  table  and  began 
to  eat.  Carnes  shook  his  big  spoon  at  the  negro,  and 
cried  out,  "  Now,  Charles,  you  must  spoony  on  your 
own  side ;  "  and  he  kept  on  warning  him,  "  Spoony  on 
your  own  side,  Charles,  spoony  on  your  own  side." 
The  two  lawyers  ate  until  Charles's  spoon  began 
to  make  raids  on  their  side  of  the  bowl,  and  then 


248 


they    abandoned  the  feast  to   him    and   went   on   their 
way. 

A  landlord  of  a  hotel,  having  heard  some  of  the 
lawyers,  among  them  Judge  Dooly,  bragging  about 
the  toothsomeness  of  a  baked  pig  they  had  tasted, 
probably  at  Milledgeville  during  the  session  of  the 
Legislature,  concluded  that  he  would  surprise  and 
please  them  by  having  something  in  that  line  himself. 

He  was  either  ignorant  or  ill- 
<L4v£  advised ;  for,  instead  of  bak- 

ing a  suckling  pig,  he 
roasted  a  half-grown  pig, 
stuffed  him,  put  an 
apple  in  his  mouth, 
and  stood  him  upon 
his  stumps  in  a 
dish.  In  those  days 
the  seat  of  honor  at 
the  head  of  the  hotel 
table  was  reserved  for 
the  judge  of  the  court. 
At  the  head  of  the 
table  Mr.  Pig  was  placed,  facing  Judge  Dooly's-  seat. 
The  judge  and  the  lawyers  came  in,  sat  down,  and  ate 
dinner  in  comparative  silence.  They  were  overawed  by 
Mr.  Pig.  Though  the  carving  knife  lay  handy,  and 
the  landlord  and  his  wife  were  watching  with  impa- 
tience and  uneasiness  to  see  what  the  lawyers  would 
say  when  they  had  tasted  this  particular  roast  pig, 
no  one  dared  to  touch  it.  At  supper  Mr.  Pig  was 
still  standing  defiantly  in  his  place.  He  presided  at 


249 

every  meal  during  the  day  following.  On  the  morn- 
ing of  the  second  day,  when  Judge  Dooly  came 
to  the  table,  Mr.  Pig  was  in  his  old  position.  There- 
upon the  judge  bowed  to  him  gravely.  "  Good- 
morning,  sir!"  he  said.  "I  am  afraid  you  have  lost 
your  appetite,  seeing  you  have  not  eaten  that  apple 
yet.  I  presume  you  are  tired  attending  court.  —  Mr. 
Sheriff,  you  may  discharge  him  on  his  own  recogni- 
zance, until  court  in  course,  seeing  we  shall  have  no 
further  use  for  him  at  this  session,  and  return  him  the 
thanks  of  the  court  for  his  prompt  and  faithful  attend- 
ance." 

Judge  Dooly  was  a  member  of  the  Clarke  party ; 
but  on  one  occasion,  when  he  was  a  candidate  for 
reelection  to  the  judgeship  of  the  northern  circuit,  some 
of  the  Clarke  men  declared  that  Governor  Troup's 
warlike  message  was  an  evidence  that  he  was  mad. 
Judge  Dooly  made  the  comment,  "  If  he  is  mad,  I  wish 
the  same  mad  dog  that  bit  him  would  bite  me."  This 
happy  remark  came  to  the  ears  of  the  Troup  men  in  the 
Legislature,  and  it  so  pleased  them  that  they  put  an 
end  to  all  opposition  to  the  judge  in  the  election. 

Judge  Dooly  was  one  of  the  most  charitable  of  men. 
He  once  refused  to  give  alms  to  an  unfortunate  woman 
in  Savannah,  and  the  refusal  haunted  him  all  his  life 
He  declared  that  it  taught  him  never  to  let  Satan  cheat 
him  out  of  another  opportunity  to  help  the  unfortunate; 
that  he  had  determined  to  err  on  the  safe  side  ever 
after. 

Just  before  he  died,  a  friend  called  to  ask  after  his 
condition.  His  reply  was  that  he  had  a  bad  cold  with- 


250 

out  any  cough  to  suit  it.  And  so,  humor  bubbling  from 
his  lips  to  the  last,  there  passed  away,  on  the  26th  of 
May,  1827,  the  rarest  humorist  that  Georgia,  the  espe- 
cial mother  of  humorists,  has  ever  produced.  Judge 
Dooly  had  a  humor  that  was  as  illuminating  as  it  was 
enlivening.  It  stirred  to  laughter  or  it  moved  to  tears, 
according  as  this  wonderful  man  chose  to  direct  it. 

A  great  deal  of  the  humor  that  originated  in  Georgia 
has  been  printed  in  books.  We  find  it  in  Judge  Long- 
street's  "Georgia  Scenes,"  in  Major  Jones's  "  Travels," 
in  Colonel  Richard  Malcolm  Johnston's  "  Stories  of 
Georgia  Life,"  and  in  other  volumes  that  have  attracted 
public  attention.  But  the  best  of  it  has  been  lost.  It 
originated  when  the  lawyers  were  riding  about  on  horse- 
back or  in  buggies  from  court  to  court,  and  tradition 
has  only  preserved  a  small  part  of  it. 


SLAVERY   AND    SECESSION. 

THE  dispute  over  slavery,  which  had  been  going  on 
for  many  years,  grew  furious  in  1850;  and  its 
fury  increased  until,  in  1 860-61,  it  culminated  in  the 
secession  of  the  Southern  States  from  the  Union. 
Some  of  those  who  have  written  the  history  of  the 
secession  movement  contend  that  slavery  had  little  or 
nothing  to  do  with  the  matter ;  that  the  South  seceded 
because  the  North  had  refused  to  grant  her  people 
their  rights  guaranteed  under  the  Constitution.  This 
is  true  as  far  as  it  goes;  but  the  fact  remains,  that 
secession  and  the  war  grew  out  of  the  efforts  of  the 
abolitionists  of  the  North,  and  those  who  sympathized 
with  them,  to  keep  slavery  out  of  the  Territories,  and  to 
prevent  the  new  States  then  forming  from  becoming 
slave  States.  .  There  is  no  doubt  that  these  efforts  were 
illegal  and  unconstitutional ;  and  yet,  in  the  minds  of 
those  who  made  them,  constitutionality  was  not  a  suffi- 
cient excuse  for  slavery,  which,  whatever  might  be  its 
political  status,  was  morally  wrong :  that  is  to  say,  they 
believed  that  such  a  wrong  as  slavery  could  not  be  justi- 
fied by  paper  constitutions  and  the  like.  Some  of  the 
more  extreme  abolitionists  of  the  North  were  just  as 
ready  to  secede  from  the  Union  that  recognized  slavery 
as  the  Southerners  were  to  break  up  a  Union  whose 
constitutional  guaranties  meant  nothing. 

251 


252 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  antislavery  move- 
ment began  in  the  South.  While  slavery  was  in  full 
blast  both  North  and  South,  Thomas  Jefferson,  the 
greatest  political  leader  the  South  has  ever  produced, 
was  at  the  head  of  an  emancipation  movement,  and  in 
all  parts  of  the  South  there  were  men  whose  minds 
revolted  at  the  possibilities  that  swarmed  about  human 
slavery.  Georgia  was  the  only  one  of  the  Original 
Thirteen  Colonies  in  which  slavery  was  prohibited,  and 
we  have  seen  how  this  prohibition  was  repealed  at  the 
demand  of  the  planters.  Seven  Northern  States,  find- 
ing slavery  unprofitable,  abolished  the  system,  and  a 
majority  of  the  slaves  were  sold  to  the  Southern  States. 
But  the  emancipation  movement  went  on  in  the  South. 
There  were  more  than  fifty  thousand  free  negroes  in 
Virginia  in  1856,  and  there  were  a  great  many  in 
Georgia.  A  number  of  planters  in  Georgia,  the  most 
prominent  among  them  being  Alfred  Cuthbert,  eman- 
cipated their  slaves,  and  arranged  to  send  them  to 
Liberia. 

Nevertheless  the  invention  of  the  cotton  gin  did  more 
to  strengthen  the  cause  of  slavery  than  all  other  events 
combined.  It  became  more  profitable  than  ever  to  own 
slaves ;  and  in  this  way,  and  on  this  account,  all  the 
cotton-growing  States  became  interested  in  the  system. 
They  had  the  excuse  not  only  that  slavery  was  profit- 
able, but  that  self-interest  combined  with  feelings  of 
humanity  to  make  it  a  patriarchal  institution.  And 
such,  in  fact,  it  was.  It  is  to  the  glory  of  the  American 
character  and  name,  that  never  before  in  the  history  of 
the  world  was  human  slavery  marked  by  such  mildness, 


253 

such  humanity,  as  that  which  characterized  it  in  the 
United  States. 

But  all  such  considerations  as  these,  as  well  as  the 
moral  objections  to  slavery  of  any.  sort,  humane  or  cruel, 
were  lost  sight  of  in  the  great  controversy  that  grew  so 
furious  in  1850.  In  that  controversy  some  of  Georgia's 
ablest  men  took  part,  —  men  who  were  famous  as  states- 
men all  over  the  country.  There  were  Alexander  H. 
Stephens,  who  afterwards  became  the  Vice-President  of 
the  Confederacy ;  Robert  Toombs,  whose  fiery  and 
impetuous  character  and  wonderful  eloquence  made  him 
a  man  of  mark;  Howell  Cobb,  who  was  speaker  of  the 
House  of  Representatives ;  Herschel  V.  Johnson,  who 
was  a  candidate  for  Vice-President  on  the  ticket  with 
Stephen  A.  Douglas  in  1860;  Benjamin  H.  Hill,  who 
was  just  then  coming  into  prominence  ;  and  Joseph  E. 
Brown,  whose  influence  on  the  political  history  of  the 
State  has  been  more  marked  than  that  of  any  other 
individual. 

The  controversy  growing  out  of  the  slavery  question 
became  so  warm  that  it  led  to  the  breaking-up  of  par- 
ties in  1850.  Stephens  and  Toombs,  who  had  been 
Whigs,  united  with  Howell  Cobb,  who  was  a  Democrat. 
Other  Southern  Whigs  united  under  the  name  of  the 
American  party.  At  the  North  the  Whigs  either  joined 
the  Republican  party  or  united  with  the  American 
party.  The  spirit  of  disunion  was  rampant  in  all  parts 
of  the  South.  In  Georgia  the  Legislature  had  called  a 
State  convention,  and  a  great  effort  was  made  by  some 
of  the  politicians  to  commit  the  State  to  secession. 
Both  Toombs  and  Stephens  were  strong  Union  men, 


254 

and  they  opposed  the  spirit  and  purpose  of  the  call  for 
the  convention.  The  speeches  that  Toombs  had  made 
in  Congress  were  garbled  by  the  newspapers,  and  he  was 
made  to  appear  as  favoring  immediate  secession.  He 
made  short  work  of  that  scheme,  however.  He  returned 
to  Georgia  in  the  fall  of  1850,  and  immediately  began 
one  of  the  most  extraordinary  campaigns  that  has  ever 
taken  place  in  the  State.  He  was  in  the  prime  of  life. 
His  fiery  energy,  his  boldness,  his  independence,  and 
his  dauntless  courage,  were  in  full  flower.  He  took 
issue  with  what  seemed  to  be  the  unanimous  sentiment 
of  the  State.  He  declared  that  the  call  for  the  conven- 
tion had  dishonored  the  State.  He  sent  out  a  ringing 
address  to  the  people,  urging  the  South  to  stand  by  the 
Constitution  and  the  laws  in  good  faith. 

By  the  time"  the  convention  was  held,  the  efforts  of 
Toombs,  supplemented  by  those  of  Stephens  and  other 
conservative  men,  had  turned  the  tide  of  disunion. 
Whigs  united  with  Democrats.  When  the  returns  of 
the  election  were  made  known,  it  was  found  that  a  large 
majority  of  the  members  were  for  the  Union.  "With 
no  memory  of  past  differences,"  said  Toombs,  "  careless 
of  the  future,  I  am  ready  to  unite  with  any  portion  or 
all  of  my  countrymen  in  defense  of  the  integrity  of  the 
Republic."  So  it  was  that  the  convention  met,  and 
adopted  what  is  known  in  our  political  history  as  "  The 
Georgia  Platform."  This  platform  said  that  Georgia 
held  the  American  Union  secondary  in  importance  to 
the  rights  and  principles  it  was  bound  to  perpetuate; 
that,  as  the  Thirteen  Colonies  found  union  impossible 
without  compromise,  the  thirty-one  of  that  day  would 


255 

yield  somewhat  in  the  conflict  of  opinion  and  policy,  to 
preserve  the  Union ;  that  Georgia  had  maturely  con- 
sidered the  action  of  Congress  in  adopting  the  compro- 
mise measures,  and,  while  she  did  not  wholly  approve 
that  action,  would  abide  by  it  as  a  permanent  adjustment 
of  this  sectional  controversy;  that  the  State  would  in 
future  resist,  even  to  the  disruption  of  the  Union,  any 
act  prohibiting  slavery  in  the  Territories,  or  a  refusal  to 
admit  a  slave  State  into  the  Union. 

Thus  the  Union  was  saved  in  1850  by  the  very  man 
who  had  been  charged  with  trying  to  break  it  up.  The 
eyes  of  the  whole  South  were  turned  to  Georgia  during 
that  campaign ;  and  when  the  people,  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Toombs,  Stephens,  and  Howell  Cobb,  voted  to 
save  the  Union,  the  tide  of  disunion  was  turned  every- 
where. The  Georgia  platform  was  made  the  platform 
of  the  constitutional  Union  party  in  the  Southern  States. 
In  Mississippi,  Henry  S.  Foote,  the  Union  candidate, 
defeated  Jefferson  Davis  for  governor.  The  action  of 
Georgia  strengthened  the  Union  sentiment  in  all  parts 
of  the  country. 

For  a  while  the  situation  was  secure  and  satisfactory ; 
but,  in  the  nature  of  things,  this  could  not  last.  The 
politicians  were  busy  while  the  people  were  asleep. 
The  Know-nothing  party  sprang  up  in  a  night,  and 
divided  the  people  again ;  and  in  Congress  the  slavery 
discussion  was  renewed  with  extreme  bitterness  over 
the  bills  to  admit  the  Territories  of  Kansas  and  Ne- 
braska as  States.  This  controversy  was  even  more 
exciting  than  that  which  resulted  in  the  Compromise 
Laws  of  1850.  Following  close  upon  this  agitation 


256 

came  John  Brown's  raid  into  Virginia,  and  his  attack 
on  Harpers  Ferry.  In  ordinary  times  this  raid  would 
have  been  regarded  with  contempt  by  the  Southern 
people.  It  was  a  ridiculous  affair,  —  the  act  of  a  man 
who  had  worked  himself  up  into  a  frenzy  of  folly.  If 
the  people  themselves  had  not  been  influenced  by  pas- 
sion cunningly  played  on  by  the  smaller  politicians  in 
both  sections,  poor  old  John  Brown  would  not  have 
been  regarded  as  a  murderer  by  the  South  nor  as  a 
martyr  by  the  North.  He  would  have  been  an  object 
of  pity  to  the  sensible  men  of  both  sections. 

But  the  state  of  public  opinion  was  such  at  that 
time,  that  this  ridiculous  venture  of  a  crazy  old  man 
was  a  tremendous  shock  to  the  South.  It  contributed 
more  largely  than  any  other  event  to  alarm  the  people 
of  this  section,  and  to  turn  their  minds  to  secession  as 
a  relief  from,  and  a  remedy  for,  such  attacks  upon  the 
peace  and  good  order  of  society.  It  was  a  great  stimu- 
lant to  those  who  had  long  been  in  favor  of  disunion,  as 
well  as  to  those  at  the  North  who  were  ready  to  get 
rid  of  slavery  by  violence.  Following  this  raid,  public 
opinion  both  North  and  South  became  so  violently  agi- 
tated, that  the  voices  of  conservative  men  could  not 
be  heard  above  the  storm.  It  was  the  hour  of  the  agi- 
tator and  the  extremist,  and  they  made  the  most  of  it. 
The  Democratic  Convention,  to  nominate  a  candidate 
for  President  and  Vice-President,  met  in  Charleston  on 
the  23d  of  April,  1860,  and  remained  in  session  until 
the  second  day  of  May.  The  confused  state  of  public 
opinion  was  shown  by  the  turbulent  division  in  that 
convention. 


257 


At  a  moment  when  the  wise  men  of  the 
Democratic  party,  or  of  any  party 
ought  to  have  taken  hold  of  affairs 
and    made    their    influence    felt, 
they  seemed  to  be  unequal  t< 
the    occasion.     The    members 
of  the  convention  could  not 
agree,    and    the    body    ad-     \ 
journed  to  meet  in   Balti- 
more.    But  the  division 
continued      and      grew 
wider.    The  differences 
could    not    be    settled. 
One  faction  nominated 
Douglas  and  Johnson, 
and  the  other  nominated 
Breckinridge  and  Lane.    The 
result  was  the  election  of  Lincoln  and  Hamlin  as  the 
candidates  of  the  Republican  party. 

In  Georgia  three  of  the  ablest  men  still  stood  for  the 
Union,  —  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  Herschel  V.  John- 
son, and  Benjamin  H.  Hill.  But  they  were  unable  to 
stem  the  tide.  The  vote  of  the  State  for  members  of 
the  convention  that  passed  the  ordinance  of  secession 
showed  a.  majority  of  only  thirteen  thousand  for  dis- 
union ;  but  Toombs,  Thomas  R.  R.  Cobb,  Howell  Cobb, 
and  others  seized  the  advantage  that  events  gave 
them,  and,  in  a  whirlwind  of  passion,  swept  aside  all  the 
arguments  and  appeals  of  the  more  conservative  men. 
But,  of  all  those  who  were  in  favor  of  secession, 
Toombs  was  at  that  time  the  most  powerful  and  influ- 

STO.  OF  GA.  —  17 


258 

ential.  He  so  managed  matters  in  Congress  as  to 
make  the  secession  of  Georgia  follow  the  inevitable 
failure  of  measures  that  he  proposed  in  that  body. 

With  the  people  of  the  South,  and  indeed  with  the 
people  of  the  whole  country,  divided  between  three 
parties,  the  election  of  a  Republican  candidate  was  a 
foregone  conclusion.  Following  this  came  secession, 
with  all  the  terrible  disasters  of  a  war  in  which  the 
South  could  not  have  hoped  to  succeed  if  reason  and 
common  sense  had  ruled.  If  the  South  had  fought  for 
her  constitutional  rights  in  the  Union  and  under  the 
old  flag,  the  result  might  have  been  different.  She 
would  have  had  the  active  sympathy  and  support  of 
that  large  and  influential  body  of  Northern  men  who 
were  sincerely  anxious  to  see  the  terms  of  the  Constitu- 
tion faithfully  carried  out.  But  disunion  was  more  than 
these  constitutional  Democrats  could  stand.  Daniel 
Webster  had  solidified  their  love  for  the  Union,  and  no 
consideration  of  party  could  affect  it. 

The  course  of  the  South,  considering  all  that  was 
involved,  should  have  been  conservative ;  but  it  was  not. 
It  is  perfectly  well  known  now  that  Abraham  Lincoln 
was  willing  to  sacrifice  the  abolition  party  on  the  altar 
of  the  Union.  He  was  prompt  to  announce  his  policy 
in  this  respect.  But  secession  came,  and  with  it  came 
the  doom  of  slavery.  That  all  was  ordered  by  Provi- 
dence, it  would  be  foolish  to  deny ;  and  yet  it  is  im- 
possible not  to  regret  the  great  sacrifice  of  blood  and 
treasure  that  was  demanded  by  the  unhappy  war  that 
followed  secession. 


THE    FARMER    BOY    OF    GADDISTOWN. 

IN  1857,  when  Bob  Toombs  was  looking  after  his  large 
landed  possessions  in  Texas,  and  bringing  the  squat- 
ters to  terms,  he  received  a  letter  from  one  of  his  polit- 
ical friends,  announcing  that  the  Democratic  State 
Convention  had  adjourned  after  nominating  Joseph  E. 
Brown  as  a  candidate  for  governor.  Toombs  was  travel- 
ing with  a  party  of  friends,  and  to  one  of  them  he  read 
the  letter.  Then  in  a  dazed  way  he  -asked,  "  Who  is 
Joe  Brown?"  His  friend  knew  no  smore  about  Joe 
Brown  than  Senator  Toombs  did,  and  all  the  way  home 
the  travelers  were  puzzling  themselves  with  the  ques- 
tion, "  Who  is  Joe  Brown  ?  "  They  were  destined  to  find 
out;  for  the  convention  that  nominated  Joe  Brown  for 
governor  brought  to  the  front  in  Georgia  politics  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  men  the  State  has  ever  known. 

Shortly  after  his  return  to  Georgia  from  Texas, 
Toombs  was  compelled  to  meet  Joe  Brown  to  consult  in 
regard  to  the  details  of  the  campaign  in  which  both 
were  interested.  It  must  have  been  an  interesting 
meeting.  It  was  as  if  Prince  Charlie  and  Cromwell  had 
met  to  arrange  a  campaign.  It  was  a  meeting  between 
Puritan  and  Cavalier.  Toombs  was  full-blooded,  hot- 
headed, impetuous,  imperious.  Joe  Brown  was  pale, 
angular,  awkward,  cold,  and  determined.  It  was  as  ii 

259 


260 

in  a  new  land  the  old  issues  had  been  buried.  Toombs 
was  a  man  of  the  people,  but  in  his  own  way,  and  it 
was  a  princely  and  a  dashing  way.  Brown  was  a  man 
of  the  people,  but  in  the  people's  way ;  and  it  was  a 
cold,  calculating,  determined,  and  common-sense  way. 
Howell  Cobb  had  written  to  Toombs  to  go  to  the  aid  of 
Brown,  expressing  a  fear  that  the  nominee,  being  a  new 
and  an  untried  man,  would  not  be  able  to  hold  his  own 
against  Ben  Hill,  who  was  the  candidate  of  the  Ameri- 
can or  Know-nothing  party  for  governor.  So  the  dash- 
ing and  gallant  senator  sought  out  the  new  and 
unknown  Democratic  candidate  for  governor,  and  had 
a  conference  with  him.  Toombs  found  the  young  man 
strangely  cold  and  placid,  and  yet  full  of  the  determi- 
nation that  martyrs  are  made  of.  He  found  that  Joe 
Brown  had  already  mapped  out  and  arranged  the  plans 
for  his  campaign,  and  the  more  experienced  politicians 
saw  nothing  to  change  in  them.  They  were  marked 
by  shrewdness  and  sagacity,  and  covered  every  detail 
of  party  organization.  This  was  satisfactory  ;  but  how 
could  the  young  man  sustain  himself  on  the  stump 
against  such  a  speaker  as  Ben  Hill,  who,  although  a 
young  man,  was  a  speaker  of  great  force  and  power  ? 
Toombs  thought  it  would  be  better  to  meet  Hill  himself, 
and  he  started  out  with  that  purpose ;  but  when  he 
heard  Joe  Brown  make  two  or  three  speeches,  and  saw 
the  tremendous  effect  he  produced  on  the  minds  of  the 
audiences  that  assembled  to  hear  him,  the  older  cam-, 
paigner  went  home,  satisfied  that  young  Brown  needed 
no  instruction  and  no  coaching  in  the  difficult  art  of 
influencing  the  people  and  winning  their  votes. 


26 1 

The  personal  history  and  career  of  Joseph  E.  Brown 
should  be  studied  by  every  ambitious  boy  in  the  land, 
especially  by  those  who  imagine  they  cannot  succeed 
because  they  lack  opportunities  that  money  and  friends 
would  obtain  for  them.  From  1857  to  the  close  of  the 
war,  and  after,  the  political  hiscory  of  Joe  Brown  is  the 
history  of  the  State ;  but  that  history,  attractive  as  it  is, 
is  not  so  interesting  as  his  struggle  to  make  a  name  for 
himself  in  the  world.  Joseph  E.  Brown  was  born  in 
Pickens  County,  South  Carolina,  and  was  the  eldest  of 
eleven  children.  His  family  was  English.  His  grand- 
father fought  manfully  against  the  British  and  Tories 
in  the  Revolutionary  War.  His  father  fought  under 
Andrew  Jackson  during  the  War  of  1812,  and  was  at 
the  battle  of  New  Orleans  on  the  8th  of  January,  1815. 

Joe  Brown  was  born  in  1821.  His  parents  were  not 
so  well  off  as  to  be  able  to  send  the  lad  continuously  to 
school  as  he  grew  up.  He  had  to  "take  his  chances." 
He  was  compelled  to  work  in  the  fields  in  season,  and 
was  permitted  to  go  to  school  only  when  there  was 
nothing  for  him  to  do  on  the  little  farm.  He-  did  farm 
labor  from  the  time  he  was  eight  until  he  reached  the 
age  of  nineteen,  and  the  schooling  he  had  received  was 
only  of  the  most  haphazard  kind. 

Before  he  was  grown,  his  father  moved  from  South 
Carolina  into  Georgia,  settling  in  Union  County,  near  a 
little  valley  named  Gaddistown.  Up  to  this  time,  though 
young  Brown  was  nineteen  years  of  age,  he  had  learned 
nothing  but  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic,  and  very 
little  of  these.  He  was  now*compelled  to  work  harder 
than  ever.  Settling  in  a  new  country,  and  on  new  land 


262 

that  had  to  be  cleared  before  it  would  yield  a  crop,  the 
Browns  had  as  much  as  they  could  do  to  get  the  farm 
in  order  in  time  for  the  planting  season  ;  and  in  this 
severe  work,  Joseph  E.,  being  the  eldest  son,  was  the 
chief  reliance  of  the  family.  He  had  a  pair  of  small 
steers  with  which  he  plowed ;  and  when  he  wasn't 
plowing  on  the  farm,  he  was  hauling  wood  and  butter 
and  vegetables  to  the  small  market  at  Dahlonega,  and 
taking  back  in  truck  and  trade  some  necessary  article 
for  the  family.  In  this  way  he  learned  the  lessons  of 
patience,  self-control,  and  tireless  industry  that  all  boys 
ought  to  learn,  because  they  are  not  only  the  basis  of 
content  and  happiness,  but  of  all  success. 

When  Joe  Brown  was  twenty  years  old,  his  father 
allowed  him  to  seek  an  education.  All  he  could  do  for 
the  industrious  and  ambitious  boy  was  to  give  him  his 
blessing  and  the  yoke  of  steers  with  which  he  had  been 
plowing.  With  these  young  Brown  returned  to  South 
Carolina  and  entered  an  academy  in  Anderson  district. 
He  gave  the  steers  for  eight  months'  board,  and  went 
into  debt  for  the  tuition  fee.  In  the  fall  of  1841  he  re- 
turned to  Georgia  and  taught  school  for  three  months, 
and  with  the  money  he  received  for  this  he  paid  for  the 
schooling  he  had  gone  in  debt  for.  He  returned  to  the 
Carolina  academy  in  1842,  and  went  into  debt  not  only 
for  his  schooling,  but  for  his  board.  His  patience  and 
his  untiring  industry  enabled  him  to  make  such  rapid 
progress  that  within  two  years  he  had  fitted  himself  to 
enter  an  advanced  class  in  college.  But  the  lack  of 
means  prevented  him  from  entering  college.  Instead 
he  returned  to  Georgia  and  opened  a  school  at  Canton, 


263 

Cherokee  County.  He  opened  this  school  with  six 
pupils,  and  the  number  rapidly  increased  to  sixty,  so 
that  he  was  able  in  a  short  time  to  settle  the  debts  he 
had  made  in  Carolina.  He  taught  school  all  day,  and 
at  night  and  on  Saturdays  devoted  himself  to  the  study 


of  law.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1845,  and  was 
at  once  successful.  He  made  no  pretense  of  oratory ; 
but  his  simple  and  unpretending  style,  his  homely  and 
direct  way  of  putting  a  case,  and  his  faculty  of  applying 
the  test  of  common  sense  to  all  questions,  were  as  suc- 
cessful with  juries  as  they  afterwards  proved  to  be  with 
the  people  ;  and  before  the  people  he  was  irresistible. 


264 

But  he  was  not  yet  through  with  his  studies.  A 
friend  advanced  him  the  money  necessary  to  enter  the 
Law  School  of  Yale;  and  there,  from  October,  1845, 
to  June,  1846,  when  he  graduated,  he  took  the  lead  in 
all  his  classes,  and  had  time  to  attend  lectures  in  other 
departments  of  the  college.  He  returned  home,  began 
active  practice,  and  was  soon  prosperous.  He  became 
a  State  senator,  and  was  afterwards  made  a  judge  of 
the  superior  courts. 

When  the  Democratic  Convention  met  in  Milledge- 
ville  in  1857,  for  the  purpose  of  nominating  a  candidate 
for  governor,  it  had  so  many  popular  candidates  to 
choose  from,  and  these  candidates  had  so  many  and 
such  strong  friends,  that  the  members  found  it  impos- 
sible to  agree  on  a  man.  A  great  many  ballots  were 
taken,  and  there  was  a  good  deal  of  "log-rolling"  and 
"buttonholing,"  as  the  politicians  call  it,  on  behalf  of 
the  various  candidates  by  their  special  friends.  But  all 
this  did  no  good.  There  was  a  deadlock.  No  one  of 
the  candidates  was  able  to  obtain  a  two-thirds  majority, 
which,  according  to  Democratic  law,  was  the  number 
necessary  to  a  nomination.  Twenty-one  ballots  had 
been  taken  with  no  result,  and  the  convention  had  been 
in  session  three  days.  Finally  it  was  decided  to  appoint 
a  special  committee  made  up  of  three  delegates  from 
each  congressional  district.  It  was  the  duty  of  this 
committee  to  name  a  candidate  on  whom  the  conven- 
tion could  agree.  When  this  committee  retired,  it  was 
proposed  that  a  ballot  be  taken,  each  committeeman 
writing  the  name  of  the  candidate  of  his  choice  on  a 
slip  of  paper,  and  depositing  the  slip  in  a  hat.  This  was 


265 

done.;  but  before  the  ballots  were  counted,  Judge  Lin- 
ton  Stephens,  a  brother  of  Alexander  H.,  stated  that 
such  a  formality  was  not  necessary.  He  thereupon 
moved  that  Judge  Joseph  E.  Brown  of  Cherokee  be 
selected  as  the  compromise  man,  and  that  his  name  be 
reported  to  the  convention.  This  was  agreed  to  unani- 
mously, and  Joseph  E.  Brown  was  nominated;  and  yet, 
if  the  written  ballots  had  been  counted,  it  would  have 
been  found  that  Alfred  H.  Colquitt,  who  afterwards 
became  so  distinguished  in  Georgia,  had  been  nomi- 
nated by  the  committee.  He  received  a  majority  of 
one  of  the  written  ballots  when  they  were  afterwards 
counted  through  curiosity.  Twenty-three  years  later, 
Colquitt,  who  was  then  governor,  made  Joseph  E. 
Brown  a  United  States  senator  under  circumstances 
that  aroused  strong  opposition,  and  immediately  after- 
wards Brown  aided  Colquitt  to  a  reelection  in"  one  of 
the  bitterest  contests  the  State  has  ever  witnessed. 

The  unexpected  nomination  of  Brown  by  the  conven- 
tion of  1857  introduced  into  State  politics  the  most 
potent  element  that  it  had  ever  known.  The  nomi- 
nation, surprising  as  it  was,  was  not  half  so  surprising 
as  some  of  the  results  that  have  followed  it.  At  the 
moment  the  convention  nominated  him,  Joe  Brown  was 
tying  wheat  in  one  of  his  fields  near  Canton,  in  Chero- 
kee County.  He  was  then  judge  of  the  Blue  Ridge 
Circuit ;  and  on  the  day  that  his  name  was  placed  before 
the  Democratic  Convention  at  Milledgeville,  he  had  re- 
turned home.  After  dinner  he  went  out  into  his  farm 
to  see  how  his  men  were  getting  on.  He  had  four  men 
cutting  wheat  with  cradles,  u.id  he  found  the  binders 


266 

very  much  behind.  About  half-past  two  o'clock  he 
pulled  off  his  coat  and  ordered  the  binders  to  keep 
up  with  him.  It  was  on  the  i$th  of  June,  1857.  The 
weather  was  very  warm,  but  he  kept  at  work  all  the 
afternoon.  About  sundown  he  went  home,  and  was 
preparing  to  bathe,  when  a  neighbor,  who  had  been  to 
Marietta  and  heard  the  news,  rode  to  his  house  and 
told  him  about  the  nomination,  which  had  been  made  at 
three  o'clock  that  afternoon.  Telling  about  the  inci- 
dent afterwards,  Joe  Brown,  with  a  twinkle  in  his  eye, 
said  that  he  had  heard  that  a  good  many  men  were 
anxious  to  buy  that  wheat  field,  so  as  to  have  an  oppor- 
tunity to  tie  wheat  in  it  while  a  nominating  convention 
was  in  session. 

The  great  majority  of  the  people  of  the  State  were  as 
much  puzzled  about  Joe  Brown  as  Toombs  was.  Either 
they  had  not  heard  of  him  before,  or  they  had  for- 
gotten him.  In  those  days  a  man  who  made  a  reputa- 
tion in  the  Cherokee  country  was  not  known  to  the  rest 
of  the  State  for  a  long  time.  The  means  of  communi- 
cation were  slow  and  uncertain.  But  the  whole  State 
found  him  out  just  as  Toombs  did.  He  was  prompt  to 
begin  the  campaign.  Toombs  had  already  left  the 
Whig  party,  and  was  acting  with  the  Democrats. 
Stephens  had  left  the  Whigs,  but  had  not  become  a 
Democrat.  He  was  an  Independent.  He  was,  as  he 
expressed  it,  " toting  his  own  skillet."  Ben  Hill  was 
Joe  Brown's  opponent,  and  these  two  met  in  debate 
before  the  people  on  two  or  three  occasions.  It  was 
thought  at  first  that  Mr.  Hill  had  the  advantage  of  the 
tall  and  ungainly  candidate  from  Cherokee,  but  the  end 


267 

of  the  contest  showed  that  the  advantage  was  all  the 
other  way.  Mr.  Hill  was  a  man  of  very  marked  ability. 
He  was  one  of  the  few  good  speakers  who  could  write 
well,  and  one  of  the  few  fine  writers  who  could  speak 
well.  He  had  courage,  he  had  wit,  he  had  learning,  he 
had  eloquence ;  he  had  everything,  in  fact,  to  attract 
popular  approval  and  entice  a  popular  following;  but 
somehow,  and  until  the  very  latest  years  of  his  life, 
he  fell  far  short  of  being  a  popular  idol.  He  was  showy 
and  effective  before  a  mixed  crowd,  he  never  failed  to 
attract  applause,  and  it  was  supposed  that  Brown  was 
making  a  losing  campaign;  but  the  campaign  was 
going  just  the  other  way.  Hill,  in  the  course  of  his 
discussion,  said  hundreds  of  things  that  the  people 
applauded ;  while  Brown  said  hundreds  of  things  that 
the  people  remembered,  and  carried  home  with  them, 
and  thought  over.  Joe  Brown  was  not  only  a  man  of 
the  people,  but  a  man  of  the  country  people ;  and  he 
pleased  the  city  people  who  had  formerly  lived  in  the 
country.  The  result  of  the  campaign  was  that  Know- 
nothingism  was  buried  out  of  sight  in  Georgia.  Joe 
Brown  was  elected  by  more  than  ten  thousand  majority, 
and  the  Democratic  majority  in  the  Legislature  was 
overwhelming. 

Although  he  was  only  thirty-six  years  old  when  he 
became  governor,  the  people  began  to  call  him  "  Old 
]udgment."  This  was  due  no  less  to  his  peculiar  gift 
of  hard  common  sense  than  to  his  peculiar  pronuncia- 
tion. His  speech  and  his  ways  were  "  countrified,"  and 
they  remained  so  all  the  days  of  his  life.  His  voice 
was  not  musical,  and  he  had  a  peculiar  drawling  in- 


268 

tonation,  which,  if  it  had  been  a  little  more  nasal, 
would  have  been  an  exact  reproduction  of  the  tone  and 
manner  of  the  Down-east  Yankee.  He  shared  these 
peculiarities  with  hundreds  of  the  descendants  of  the 
Puritans  who  settled  in  the  mountains  of  East  Tennes- 
see and  North  Georgia.  He  had  no  wish  for  the  luxu- 
ries of  life ;  and  though  he  lived  comfortably,  he  never, 
even  when  by  close  economy  he  had  accumulated  one 
of  the  largest  fortunes  in  Georgia,  cared  to  live  finely. 
He  was  a  plain  man  at  first  and  a  plain  man  at  last, 
always  temperate,  industrious,  and  economical. 

His  term  of  office  in  the  governor's  chair  was  for 
two  years,  and  at  the  end  of  that  time  he  had  almost 
entirely  remolded  and  refashioned  his  party.  He  had 
stamped  his  own  personality  and  character  upon  it,  and 
it  became  in  truth  and  in  fact  the  party  of  the  people, 
—  the  common  people.  In  his  management  of  State 
affairs  he  had  introduced  the  plain  business  methods 
suggested  by  common  sense ;  he  dispensed  with  all 
unnecessary  officials ;  he  shook  off  all  the  hangers-on ; 
he  uprooted  all  personal  schemes :  so  that  when  the 
time  came  to  nominate  a  man  to  succeed  him,  it  was 
found  that  the  people  had  no  other  choice.  His  party 
thought  of  no  other  name. 

The  year  of  Joe  Brown's  second  nomination,  as  we 
have  seen,  was  the  year  that  witnessed  John  Brown's 
ridiculous  raid  into  Virginia.  The  people  of  the  South, 
however,  thought  it  was  a  very  serious  matter,  and  the 
people  of  Georgia  were  not  different  from  those  of  the 
rest  of  the  South.  Some  very  wise  men  allowed  them- 
selves to  be  led  away  by  their  passions.  Even  Joe 


269 

Brown,  as  Alexander  Stephens  once  said,  "tucked  his 
judgment  under  the  bed  "  for  the  time  being.  Back  of 
the  indignation  created  by^the  John  Brown  raid  was 
the  unconfessed  and  half-formed  fear  that  the  Northern 
abolitionists  would  send  their  agents  to  the  South  and 
organize  a  negro  insurrection.  Many  of  the  Southern 
people  remembered  the  horrors  of  San  Domingo,  and 
there  was  a  vague  and  an  undefined  but  constant  dread 
that  such  a  rising  of  the  blacks  would  take  place  in 
the  South.  But  there  never  was  any  such  danger  in 
Georgia.  The  relations  between  the  slaves  and  their 
masters  were  too  friendly  and  familiar  to  make  such  an 
uprising  possible.  The  abolitionists  did  send  agents  to 
the  South  to  stir  the  negroes  to  rebellion,  and  some  of 
them  came  to  Georgia,  buHn  every  instance  their  mis- 
sion became  known  to  the  whites  through  the  friend- 
liness of  the  blacks.  There  was  always  some  negro 
ready  to  tell  his  master's  family  when  the  abolition 
agents  made  their  appearance.  Still  the  people  re- 
sented to  the  utmost  the  spirit  that  moved  certain 
so-called  philanthropists  of  the  North  to  endeavor  to 
secure  the  freedom  of  the  negroes  by  means  of  the 
torch  and  midnight  murder. 

Consequently  in  1859,  when  Joe  Brown  was  nomi- 
nated for  governor  the  second  time,  the  people  were 
greatly  stirred.  Sectional  feeling  ran  high.  In  that  year 
began  the  active  movement  that  led  to  secession  and  the 
civil  war.  If  all  our  statesmen  had  been  as  wise  as  Mr. 
Stephens  and  Mr.  Hill,  war  would  'have  been  averted. 
Slavery  itself,  in  the  very  nature  of  things,  was  doomed. 
It  had  accomplished  its  providential  mission.  It  had 


2/0 

civilized  and  christianized  millions  of  savages  who  had 
been  redeemed  from  slavery  in  their  own  land.  It  had  jus- 
tified its  own  ends,  and  would  have  passed  away  in  good 
time,  no  matter  what  compromise  may  have  been  made. 

Mr.  Stephens  and  Mr.  Hill  were  opposed  to  seces- 
sion. They  were  for  fighting,  if  there  must  be  a  fight, 
in  the  Union,  and  this  was  the  true  policy.  For  a 
while  the  people  of  Georgia  were  earnestly  in  favor 
of  this ;  but  the  efforts  of  the  abolitionists  to  stir  the 
negroes  to  insurrection,  and  the  inflammatory  appeals 
of  some  of  the  leading  men,  led  them  to  oppose  a  policy 
which  was  at  once  just,  wise,  and  considerate.  Even 
Joseph  E.  Brown,  cool,  calculating,  placid,  and  not  easily 
swayed  by  emotion,  became  a  disunionist,  demonstrat- 
ing once  again  that  beneath  the  somber  and  calm  exte- 
rior of  the  Puritan  is  to  be  found  a  nature  as  combative 
and  as  unyielding  as  that  which  marks  the  Cavalier. 

Joe  Brown  was  reflected  in  1859,  and  did  everything 
in  his  power  as  governor  to  hasten  the  event  of  seces- 
sion. The  National  Democratic  Convention  met  in 
Charleston,  and  the  meeting  showed  that  the  differences 
between  the  Democrats  could  not  be  settled ;  and  it  so 
happened,  that,  while  the  South  was  opposed  by  the 
solid  and  rapidly  growing  Republican  party,  the  people 
of  the  South  were  divided  among  themselves.  What 
is  most  remarkable,  the  people  of  the  South,  after  mak- 
ing the  election  of  the  Republican  candidate  certain  by 
dividing  among  themselves,  seemed  to  be  amazed  at 
the  result.  In  some  instances  county  meetings  were 
held  in  Georgia,  and  resolutions  sent  to  the  Legislature 
declaring  the  election  of  Lincoln  and  Hamlin  "  a  viola- 


2/1 

tion  of  national  comity."  Nothing  could  show  more 
clearly  that  the  minds  of  the  voters  were  upset. 

On  Dec.  20,  1860,  South  Carolina  seceded  from  the 
Union,  and  the  event  was  made  the  occasion  for  great 
rejoicing  by  the  secession  element  in  Georgia.  Bonfires 
were  kindled,  guns  were  fired,  and  people  seemed  to  be 
wild  with  enthusiasm.  Georgia  did  not  secede  until  Jan. 
19,  1861;  but  Governor  Brown  did  not  wait  for  that 
event.  He  committed  the  first  overt  act  of  the  war. 
He  seized  Fort  Pulaski,  on  the  Savannah,  Jan.  3,  1861. 

On  the  22cl  of  January,  ten  cases  of  muskets  be- 
longing to  a  firm  in  Macon  were  seized  by  the  New 
York  police  after  they  had  been  placed  on  board  a 
vessel.  Governor  Brown  sent  a  telegram  to  Governor 
Morgan,  demanding  the  release  of  these  arms.  Gov- 
ernor Morgan  hesitated  some  time  before  he  made  any 
response.  Meanwhile,  Governor  Brown  waited  three 
days,  and  then  ordered  the  seizure  of  every  ship  in  the 
harbor  of  Savannah  belonging  to  citizens  of  New  York. 
Two  brigs,  two  barks,  and  a  schooner  were  seized  and 
held  by  the  State  troops.  When  this  seizure  was  made 
known,  Governor  Brown  received  official  notification 
that  the  arms  had  been  released.  He  therefore  ordered 
the  release  of  the  vessels.  But  when  the  agents  of  the 
Macon  firm  made  an  effort  to  get  the  arms,  they  were 
refused.  Promptly  Governor  Brown  seized  other  ves- 
sels, and  caused  them  to  be  advertised  for  sale. 

This  was  merely  the  beginning  of  those  greater 
events  that  cast  a  shadow  over  the  whole  country. 
The  farmer  boy  of  Gaddistown  was  reflected  governor 
in  1861,  and  continued  to  hold  the  office  until  1865. 


GEORGIA    IN    THE  WAR. 


WHEN  the  Southern 
Confederacy  was 
organized  at  Montgom- 
ery, Ala.,  there  was  great 
enthusiasm  all  over  the 
South,  especially  in  Geor- 
;  and  this  feeling  kept  up 
until  the  State  had  given  to 
the  Confederate  armies  a  hun- 
dred and  twenty  thousand  sol- 
diers, twenty  thousand  more 
than  its  voting  population.  By 
reason  of  the  fame  and  number  of  its 
public  men,  Georgia  had  a  controlling  influence  in  the 
organization  of  the  new  government.  Howell  Cobb  was 
president  of  the  convention  of  the  seceded  States  that 
met  in  Montgomery  on  the  fourth  day  of  February,  1861  ; 
and  it  is  well  known  that  the  Convention  itself  was  in 
favor  of  making  Robert  Toombs  president  of  the  provi- 
sional government  that  was  there  formed.  Mr.  Toombs, 
however,  expressly  forbade  the  use  of  his  name.  The 
Georgia  delegates  then  concluded  to  support  Jefferson 
Davis  of  Mississippi  for  president,  and  Alexander  II . 
Stephens  of  Georgia  for  vice-president. 

272 


273 

Only  a  few  men  doubted  that  the  South  would  con- 
quer the  North,  and  among  these  was  Herschel  V. 
Johnson.  There  was  an  idea  abroad  that  one  South- 
erner could  whip  a  dozen  Northerners.  Nobody  knows 
how  this  idea  got  out,  nor  why  the  absurdity  of  it  was 
not  plain  to  all ;  but  the  newspapers  were  full  of  it,  and 
the  speech  makers  insisted  on  it  so  roundly  that  the 
people  began  to  believe  it.  One  orator  declared  that  he 
could  take  one  company  of  "  Southrons,"  arm  them 
with  popguns,  and  run  a  regiment  of  Yankees  out  of 
the  country.  Another  stated  that  he  would  be  will- 
ing to  drink  all  the  blood  that  would  be  shed  as  the 
result  of  secession.  It  is  said  that  both  of  these  ora- 
tors were  asked  for  an  explanation  by  their  constituents 
after  the  war  was  over.  The  first  said  that  the  reason 
he  didn't  run  the  Yankees  out  of  the  country  with  pop- 
guns was  because  they  wouldn't  fight  that  way.  The 
second  one,  who  had  promised  to  drink  all  the  blood, 
said  that  exposure  in  camp  had  interfered  with  his 
digestion,  and  his  appetite  wasn't  as  good  as  it  ought 
to  be. 

At  this  time  and  afterwards  there  was  an  overwhelm- 
ing sentiment  in  favor  of  the  Union  in  some  parts  of 
North  Georgia.  The  people  of  that  section  had  few 
slaves,  and  the  arguments  in  favor  of  the  protection  of 
slavery  in  the  Territories  did  not  appeal  to  them  :  con- 
sequently they  were  opposed  to  secession.  There  was 
but  one  thing  that  prevented  serious  trouble  between 
these  Union  men  and  the  State  government,  and  that 
was  the  fact  that  Joe  Brown  was  governor.  He  knew 
the  North  Georgians  thoroughly,  and  he  knew  precisely 

STO.   OF    r,A.  —  iS 


274 

how  to  deal  with  them.  General  Harrison  W.  Riley,  a 
leading  citizen  of  Lumpkin  County,  declared  that  he 
intended  to  seize  the  mint  at  Dahlonega,  and  hold  it 
for  the  United  States.  This  threat  was  telegraphed  to 
Governor  Brown  by  some  of  the  secession  leaders  in 
that  part  of  the  State,  and  they  appealed  to  him  to  send 
troops  to  Dahlonega  at  once,  and  seize  the  mint  by 
force.  But  the  governor  knew  Riley  and  the  people 
of  North  Georgia  too  well  to  make  any  show  of  force. 
He  knew  that  any  such  demonstration  would  excite 
sympathy  for  Riley,  and  inflame  the  Union  sentiment 
there.  So  Governor  Brown  wrote  to  some  of  Riley's 
friends,  telling  them  what  he  had  heard,  and  saying  that 
he  had  known  General  Riley  too  long,  and  had  too  high 
an  opinion  of  his  good  sense  and  patriotism,  to  believe 
the  'report.  At  the  same  time  the  governor  informed 
the  superintendent  of  the  mint  that  the  State  of  Georgia 
now  held  that  institution.  The  superintendent  said  he 
was  willing  to  act  under  the  orders  of  the  governor. 

At  Jasper,  the  county  seat  of  Pickens  County,  the 
feeling  of  loyalty  to  the  Union  was  very  strong.  The 
delegate  from  that  county  to  the  State  convention  had 
refused  to  sign  his  name  to  the  ordinance  of  secession. 
Soon  after  the  State  had  seceded,  the  citizens  of  Jasper 
planted  a  pole,  and  raised  on  it  a  United  States  flag, 
and  kept  it  floating  there  for  several  weeks  in  open  de- 
fiance of  the  Confederate  and  State  authorities.  This 
was  an  event  to  be  delicately  handled.  The  slightest 
mistake  would  have  created  a  state  of  feeling  in  North 
Georgia  that  would  have  given  no  end  of  trouble  during 
the  whole  war.  But  the  Union  flag  floating  in  Pickens 


275 

County  irritated  the  rest  of  the  State ;  and  hundreds  of 
appeals  were  made  to  Governor  Brown  to  send  troops 
to  Jasper,  and  have  the  flag  taken  down  by  force.  To 
these  appeals  he  made  but  one  response,  and  then 
turned  a  deaf  ear  to  all  criticis-m.  "  Let  the  flag  float 
there,"  he  said.  "  It  floated  over  our  fathers,  and  we 
all  love  the  flag  now.  We  have  only  been  compelled 
to  lay  it  aside  by  the  injustice  that  has  been  practiced 
under  its  folds.  If  the  people  of  Pickens  desire  to 
hang  it  out  and  keep  it  there,  let  them  do  so.  I  shall 
send  no  troops  to  interfere  with  it." 

While  this  wise  management  on  the  part  of  Gov- 
ernor Brown  did  not  change  the  sentiments  of  the 
Union  men  of  North  Georgia,  it  prevented  any  serious 
outbreak,  and  kept  them  soothed  and  quieted  through- 
out the  war.  Matters  were  managed  differently  in  East 
Tennessee  ;  and  the  result  was,  that  the  Union  men  of 
that  section  went  into  the  business  of  bushwhacking, 
and  created  a  great  deal  of  trouble.  While  Governor 
Brown  exercised  authority  without  regard  for  precedent, 
the  time  and  the  occasion  being  without  precedent,  he 
was  very  wise  and  very  prudent  in  meeting  such  emer- 
gencies as  those  that  arose  in  North  Georgia. 

By  the  time  the  election  for  governor  came  on,  Joe 
Brown  had  aroused  a  good  deal  of  opposition.  He  had 
had  a  controversy  with  the  Confederate  authorities  be- 
cause the  latter  had  enrolled  troops  from  Georgia  with- 
out first  making  a  requisition  on  the  governor.  He  had 
seized  several  cargoes  of  salt  which  the  speculators  had 
been  holding  for  higher  prices.  There  was  at  that 
early  day,  and  all  during  the  war,  a  salt  famine  in  the 


2/6 

South.  The  farmers  found  it  difficult  to  save  their 
meat,  owing  to  the  scarcity  of  salt.  It  is  a  curious  fact, 
that,  when  the  famine  was  at  its  height,  a  pound  of  salt 
was  worth  a  pound  of  silver.  Foreseeing  this  famine, 
a  great  many  shrewd  business  men  had  laid  in  large 
stocks  of  salt,  storing  it  about  in  large  warehouses  in 
different  parts  of  the  State.  They  were  about  to  real- 
ize immense  fortunes  out  of  the  sufferings  of  the  people, 
when  Governor  Brown  stepped  in  and  seized  all  the 
salt  the  State  authorities  could  lay  hands  on,  and  pro- 
hibited the  shipment  of  the  article  out  of  the  State. 
The  Legislature  afterwards  came  to  the  support  of  the 
governor  ;  but  if  the  matter  had  been  discussed  in  the 
Legislature  in  advance  of  the  action  of  the  executive, 
the  speculators  would  have  had  timely  notice,  and  the 
State  authorities  would  have  found  no  salt  to  seize. 

This  salt  famine  was  almost  as  serious  as  any  result 
of  the  war,  and  it  hung  over  the  State  until  the  close 
of  the  contest.  In  thousands  of  instances  the  planters 
who  had  been  prodigal  of  salt  before  the  war,  dug  up 
the  dirt  floors  of  their  smokehouses,  and  managed  to 
extract  a  small  supply  of  the  costly  article.  The  Legis- 
lature was  compelled  to  organize  a  salt  bureau,  and  for 
that  purpose  half  a  million  dollars  was  appropriated. 
The  State,  in  self-defense,  took  into  its  own  hands  the 
monopoly  of  manufacturing  salt  and  of  distributing  it  to 
the  people. 

The  next  difficulty  with  which  the  people  of  Georgia 
had  to  contend  was  the  Conscription  Act.  This  act 
passed  the  Confederate  Congress  in  April,  1862.  It 
had  been  recommended  by  Mr.  Davis  in  a  special  mes- 


277 


sage,  and    Congress    promptly    passed   it.     Nobody   in 
Georgia  could   understand  why  such   a  law  had   been 
recommended,  or  why  it  had  passed.     It  was  the  most 
ruinous    blunder   of    the    Confederate 
Government  during  the  war.     If 
such  a  law  was  necessary,  it 
showed  that  the  Confed- 
eracy  had  fallen   to 
pieces.      If    it   was 
not   necessary,    its 
enactment  was  a 
stupendous  piece 
of    folly ;     and 
such  it  turned 
out  to  be.    Un- 
der the  last  call 
for    troops    for 
Confederate    ser- 
vice,      Governor 
Brown     had     no 
difficulty  in  furnish- 
ing  eighteen    regi- 
ments.     He    could 
have  gone  on  furnish- 
ing   troops    as    long   as 
there  was  any  fighting  material 

left  in  the  State ;  but  as  soon  as  the  Conscript  Act  went 
into  operation,  the  ardor  of  the  people  sensibly  cooled. 
The  foolish  law  not  only  affected  the  people  at  home, 
but  hurt  the  army  in  the  field.  It  was  a  reflection  on 
the  patriotism  of  the  whole  Southern  population.  The 


278 

law  was  the  occasion  of  a  controversy  between  Gov- 
ernor Brown  and  President  Davis,  in  which  Brown,  in 
the  nature  of  things,  had  a  decided  advantage ;  for  the 
Conscript  Act  wiped  out  the  whole  theory  of  State  rights, 
on  which  the  people  of  the  South  depended  to  justify 
secession.  But  Georgia  did  not  stand  in  the  way  of 
the  law.  It  was  enforced,  and  the  terms  of  its  enforce- 
ment did  the  work  of  disorganization  more  thoroughly 
than  the  hard  times  and  the  actual  war  were  doing  it. 

In  March,  1863,  the  governor  issued  a  proclamation 
convening  the  Legislature  in  special  session  to  discuss 
the  subject  of  bread.  This  was  a  very  important  sub- 
ject at  that  time.  In  his  message,  the  governor  said 
that  the  time  had  come  for  the  farmers  to  raise  bread 
instead  of  cotton.  He  also  laid  before  the  Legislature 
the  reports  of  the  distribution  of  the  fund  of  two  and  a 
half  millions  of  dollars  for  the  support  of  the  indigent 
families  of  soldiers.  These  reports  showed  what  havoc 
the  war  had  created  among  the  people  of  a  State  which, 
not  much  more  than  two  years  before,  was  one  of  the 
most  prosperous  in  the  country.  The  fund  had  been 
distributed  among  more  than  eighty-four  thousand 
people.  Of  this  number,  about  forty-six  thousand  were 
children,  twenty-four  thousand  were  kinswomen  of  poor 
living  soldiers,  eight  thousand  were  orphans,  four  thou- 
sand were  widows  of  dead  soldiers,  and  five  hundred 
were  soldiers  disabled  in  service.  Governor  Brown,  out 
of  his  own  barn,  gave  the  people  of  Cherokee  County 
four  thousand  dollars'  wotth  of  corn.  These  events 
show  the  straits  to  which  the  people  had  been  reduced 
by  two  years  of  actual  war. 


279 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind,  however,  that  the  people 
had  to  fight  the  Union  army  in  front,  and  the  specula- 
tors and  extortioners  in  the  rear.  Governor  Brown  tried 
hard  to  make  the  lives  of  this  latter  class  entirely  miser- 
able, and  he  succeeded  in  a  way  that  delighted  the 
people.  Wherever  he  could  get  his  hands  on  a  specula- 
tor or  extortioner,  he  shook  him  up.  He  made  many 
seizures,  and  confiscated  the  hoards  of  a  great  many 
men  who  had  influence  with  some  of  the  newspapers ; 
and  in  this  way  life  in  the  State  was  made  almost  as 
exciting  as  the  experience  of  the  soldiers  at  the  front. 

In  1863,  Governor  Brown  wanted  to  retire  from  office. 
The  strain  on  his  health  and  strength  had  been  very 
severe,  and  he  felt  that  he  wras  breaking  down.  He 
wanted  to  make  Toombs,  who  was  then  a  general  in 
the  army,  his  successor.  But  Brown's  friends  insisted 
that  he  should  make  the  race.  The  public  opinion  of 
Georgia  and  of  the  whole  South  insisted  on  it.  So  he 
became  a  candidate  for  a  fourth  term.  He  had  two 
opponents,  —  Joshua  Hill,  who  had  been  a  strong  Union 
man ;  and  Timothy  Furlow,  who  was  an  ardent  seces- 
sionist and  a  strong  supporter  of  the  Confederate 
administration ;  but  Governor  Brown  was  elected  by  a 
large  majority  over  both  candidates. 

The  war  went  steadily  on,  and  during  the  year  1864 
Georgia  became  the  battle  ground,  —  the  strategic  point. 
This  fact  the  Union  commanders  realized  very  early, 
and  began  their  movements  accordingly.  Virginia  was 
merely  the  gateway  to  the  Confederacy,  but  Georgia 
was  very  near  the  center  of  its  vitality.  This  was  shown 
by  the  fact  that  when  Atlanta  fell,  and  Sherman  began 


280 

his  destructive  march  to  the  sea,  it  was  known  on  all 
sides  that  the  Confederate  Government  was  doomed. 
This  movement,  strange  to  say,  was  hastened  by  the 
Confederate  authorities.  General  Joseph  E.  Johnston, 
one  of  the  greatest  commanders  of  the  war,  was  re- 
moved at  a  critical  moment,  when  his  well-disciplined 
army  had  reached  Atlanta.  He  was  ordered  from  Rich- 
mond to  turn  his  army  over  to  the  command  of  Gen- 
eral Hood,  and  within  a  very  few  days  the  fate  of  the 
Confederacy  had  been  decided.  Hood  at  once  ordered 
an  attack  on  Sherman's  lines.  •  He  was  repulsed,  and 
then  compelled  to  evacuate  the  city.  General  Sher- 
man detached  General  Thomas  from  his  main  army  to 
follow  Hood  on  his  march  toward  the  Tennessee,  and 
moved  across  the  State  to  Savannah.  Within  a  very 
few  months  thereafter  the  war  was  brought  to  a  close. 
Colonel  I.  W.  Avery,  in  his  "  History  of  Georgia,"  says 
that  on  the  thirty-first  day  of  December,  1864,  one 
dollar  in  gold  was  worth  forty-nine  dollars  in  Confed- 
erate money.  The  private  soldier  received  eleven  dol- 
lars of  this  money  for  a  month's  service.  He  could 
buy  a  pound  of  meat  with  his  month's  pay.  He  could 
buy  a  drink  of  whisky,  and  have  one  dollar  left  over. 
With  four  months'  pay  he  could  buy  a  bushel  of  wheat. 
General  Toombs  once  humorously  declared  that  a  negro 
pressman  worked  all  day  printing  money,  and  then  until 
nine  o'clock  at  night  to  pay  himself  off.  There  was  a 
grain  of  truth  in  this  humor, — just  enough  to  picture 
the  situation  as  by  a  charcoal  sketch. 


A    DARING   ADVENTURE. 

ONE  fine  morning  in  April,  1862,  a  "mixed"  train 
pulled  out  of  the  old  car  shed  in  Atlanta  for  Chat- 
tanooga. It  was  called  a  "mixed"  train  because  it  was 
made  up  of  freight  cars  and  passenger  coaches.  There 
were  three  box  cars  next  to  the  locomotive,  then  came 
the  baggage  car  and  the  passenger  coaches.  The  train 
started  from  Atlanta  at  an  early  hour,  —  about  half-past 
three  o'clock,  —  arrived  at  Marietta  a  few  minutes  before 
four,  and  stopped  at  Big  Shanty  about  six  for  break- 
fast. At  Marietta,  early  as  the  hour  was,  a  number  of 
passengers  were  waiting  to  take  the  train.  This  excited 
no  remark.  There  was  a  good  deal  of  travel  on  the 
State  Road  at  that  time,  and  in  fact  on  all  the  roads,  — 
wounded  soldiers  coming  home  on  furloughs,  and  re- 
cruits and  soldiers  going  to  the  front. 

The  conductor  of  the  train  was  Mr.  W.  A.  Fuller, 
and  the  engineer  was  Jeff.  Cain.  Mr.  Antony  Murphy, 
the  superintendent  of  the  road  shops,  was  also  on  the 
train,  and  he  joined  the  conductor  and  the  engineer 
as  they  went  in  to  breakfast.  The  passengers  were 
allowed  twenty  minutes  for  breakfast ;  but  the  crew 
of  the  train  were  in  the  habit  of  dispatching  their  meals 
a  little  quicker  than  this,  so  as  to  see  that  everything 
about  the  locomotive  was  shipshape  when  the  conductor 

281 


282 


tapped  the  bell.  But  before  Conductor  Fuller  and 
Engineer  Cain  were  through  with  their  breakfast,  they 
heard  their  locomotive  pull  out  from  the  station. 

"What  does  that  mean?"  cried  Superintendent  Mur- 
phy, rising  from  the  table. 

There  was  no  reply,  and  none  was  necessary.  Con- 
ductor Fuller  and 
Engineer  Cain  rose 
as  quickly  as  Mur- 
phy did,  and  rushed 
with  him  to  the 
door.  There  they 
saw  their  locomo- 
tive moving  up  the 
road  with  the  three 
box  cars  attached. 
Inside  the  box  cars 
they  could  see  the 
figures  of  men. 
Grabbing  their 
hats,  Murphy,  Ful- 
ler, and  Cain  fol- 

___  lowed  the  train  on 

the  run.  Thou- 
sands of  soldiers  were  standing  around  the  station. 
They  had  no  idea  what  was  taking  place.  They 
thought  either  that  the  locomotive  had  been  carried  up 
the  track  to  take  on  another  freight  car,  or  that  some 
practical  joker  was  playing  a  prank.  They  showed 
their  enjoyment  of  the  situation  by  laughing  boister- 
ously and  cheering  loudly  when  Murphy,  Fuller,  and 
Cain  started  after  the  flying  locomotive  on  foot. 


Nobody  knew  that  the  locomotive  had  been  captured. 
Murphy  and  Fuller  suspected  it,  but  they  were  not 
certain  until  after  they  had  followed  it  a  little  distance. 
The  way  the  capture  had  come  about  was  this  :  Early 
in  1862  the  Federal  commanders  planned  an  advance 
on  Chattanooga ;  but  the  fact  that  stood  in  their  way 
was,  that  at  various  points  along  the  line  of  railroad 
leading  from  Atlanta  to  Chattanooga,  Confederate 
troops  had  been  posted  :  consequently  the  moment  an 
advance  on  Chattanooga  was  made,  soldiers  and  war 
supplies  could  be  hurried  forward  to  the  relief  of  the 
city.  It  was  General  Mitchell  of  the  Federal  army  who 
planned  the  advance;  and  it  was  J.  J.  Andrews,  an 
active  spy  in  the  Union  service,  who  planned  a  raid  by 
means  of  which  it  was  intended  to  burn  the  bridges  on 
the  road  north  of  Marietta,  cut  the  telegraph  wires,  and 
thus  destroy  for  a  time  the  lines  of  transportation  and 
communication  between  Atlanta  and  Chattanooga,  and 
make  the  capture  of  the  last-named  point  an  easy  mat- 
ter. Andrews  suggested  to  General  Mitchell  that  a 
party  of  bold  men  could  make  their  way  to  a  station  on 
the  Western  and  Atlantic  Railway  (called  the  State  Road 
because  it  was  owned  by  the  State),  capture  a  locomo- 
tive, and  then  steam  towards  Chattanooga,  burning  the 
bridges  and  cutting  the  telegraph  lines  as  they  went 
along.  Although  there  seemed  to  be  small  chance  for 
the  success  of  such  a  daring  adventure,  General  Mitchell 
gave  his  consent  to  it,  agreeing  to  pay  Andrews  sixty 
thousand  dollars  if  he  succeeded.  To  aid  him,  Andrews 
was  allowed  to  select  a  number  of  young  men  who  had 
already  made  a  reputation  in  the  Federal  army  for 
intelligence  and  bravery. 


'  284 

There  were  twenty-four  men  in  this  small  expedition 
when  it  started  for  Chattanooga.  They  were  under  the 
command  of  Andrews,  who  was  a  tall,  handsome  man 
with  a  long  black  beard.  He  was  cold,  impassive,  and 
had  the  air  of  one  who  is  born  to  command.  He  was 
bold  as  a  lion,  and  never  once  lost  his  coolness,  his  firm- 
ness, or  his  decision.  He  and  his  men  pretended  to  be 
Kentuckians  who  had  become  disgusted  with  the  Lin- 
coln government  and  were  making  their  way  South, 
where  they  might  find  more  congenial  company  than 
that  of  the  ardent  Union  men  who  were  their  neighbors 
at  home.  This  story  was  plausible  on  the  face  of  it, 
for  many  Southern  sympathizers  had  fled  from  Tennes- 
see and  Kentucky  when  the  Federals  began  to  take 
possession  of  those  sections. 

Andrews  and  his  men  tramped  southward  more  than 
a  hundred  miles  before  they  reached  Chattanooga. 
Before  going  into  that  city,  they  divided  into  smaller 
squads,  and  all  but  two  succeeded  in  eluding  guards, 
sentinels,  and  patrols,  and  passing  into  the  town.  They 
left  Chattanooga  on  a  train  bound  for  Atlanta,  buying 
tickets  for  Marietta.  They  reached  Marietta  in  safety, 
and  went  to  different  hotels  for  the  night.  They  had 
arranged  to  meet  again  at  four  o'clock  the  next  morn- 
ing and  take  the  north-bound  train.  Two  of  the  men 
were  not  called  by  the  clerk  of  the  hotel  at  which  they 
stopped:  consequently  they  overslept,  and  their  com- 
panions had  to  go  on  without  them  when  the  train 
arrived.  They  had  learned  that  Big  Shanty  had  no 
telegraph  office,  and  that  it  was  a  breakfast  station. 
At  that  point  Andrews  determined  to  capture  the  loco- 


285 

motive.  It  was  not  long  before  the  brakeman  put  his 
head  in  at  the  door  of  the  car  and  yelled  out,  "  Big 
Shanty  !  Twenty  minutes  for  breakfast!  " 

Andrews  and  his  men  looked  out  of  the  windows  of 
the  car  as  the  train  drew  up  at  the  station,  and  the 
sight  they  saw  was  not  calculated  to  -make  them  feel 
certain  of  success.  Opposite  the  station  was  a  field 
covered  with  the  tents  of  soldiers,  and  in  and  around 
the  station  thousands  of  soldiers  were  loitering  and 
standing"  about.  When  the  train  stopped,  Andrews, 
the  leader,  and  Knight,  an  engineer  who  had  come  with 
the  party,  rose  and  left  the  coach  on  the  side  oppo- 
site the  depot,  and  went  to  the  locomotive,  which  they 
found  empty.  They  also  saw  that  the  track  was  clear. 
Andrews  and  Knight  then  walked  back  until  they  came 
to  the  last  of  the  three  box  cars.  Andrews  told  his 
engineer  to  uncouple  the  baggage  car  from  the  box 
car,  and  then  wait  for  him.  Knight  did  as  he  was  told, 
while  Andrews  walked  leisurely  back  to  the  passenger 
coach,  opened  the  door,  and  said  quietly,  "  Now  is  our 
time,  boys  !  Come  on  !  " 

The  men  rose  at  once  and  went  out  of  the  coach. 
Knight,  as  soon  as  he  saw  them  coming,  climbed  into 
the  locomotive,  cut  the  bell  rope,  and  stood  with  his 
hand  on  the  throttle,  waiting  for  the  word.  Andrews 
stood  near  the  locomotive,  and  motioned  with  his  hand 
for  the  men  to  get  into  the  box  cars,  the  doors  of  which 
were  slid  back.  All  the  men  were  now  in  the  box  cars 
except  Andrews,  Knight,  and  another  engineer  named 
Brown,  who  ran  forward  arid  climbed  into  the  locomo- 
tive. While  this  was  going  on,  a  sentinel  stood  within 


half  a  dozen  yards  of  the  train,  but  he  had  no  idea  what 
was  occurring.  Andrews  gave  the  signal  to  go  ahead. 
Instantly  Knight  pulled  the  throttle  valve  open,  and 
the  locomotive  started  forward  with  a  jerk.  It  went 
purring  and  snorting  out  of  Big  Shanty  without  let  or 
hindrance. 

But  the  train  had  not  gone  very  far  before  the  speed 
of  the  locomotive  began  to  slacken.  The  fire  in  the 
furnace  refused  to  burn,  and  the  steam  was  low.  While 
the  engineer  was  trying  to  discover  what  was  wrong, 
Andrews  ordered  the  men  to  cut  the  telegraph  wire  and 
tear  up  a  rail  from  the  track.  By  the  time  the  rail 
had  been  torn  up  and  the  wire  cut,  the  engineer  had 
discovered  that  the  dampers  of  the  fire  box  were  closed. 
With  these  open,  the  boiler  began  to  make  stearrl  again, 
and  the  locomotive  was  soon  rattling  over  the  rails 
once  more.  It  was  the  intention  of  Andrews  to  run 
tho  captured  train  on  the  time  of  the  regular  passenger 
train,  so  that  he  would  have  only  one  train  to  meet  and 
pass  before  reaching  the  Resaca  River,  where  he  in- 
tended to  burn  the  bridge.  This  done,  it  would  have 
been  an  easy  matter  to  burn  the  bridges  over  the  Chicka- 
mauga.  This  crooked  stream  winds  about  the  valleys 
so  unexpectedly,  and  in  such  curious  fashion,  that  the 
railroad  crosses  it  eleven  times  within  a  few  miles. 
These  eleven  bridges  Andrews  intended  to  burn  as  he 
went  along,  and  then  he  would  not  fear  pursuit.  His 
success  seemed  to  be  certain. 

The  captured  locomotive,  an  old-fashioned  machine 
with  a  big  heavy  smokestack,  went  clanking  and  clat- 
tering along  the  road,  and  reeling  and  rumbling  through 


28; 

the  towns,  dragging  after  it  the  three  box  cars  contain- 
ing the  men  whom  Andrews  had  brought  with  him. 
After  passing  a  station,  the  locomotive  would  be 
stopped  and  the  wire  cut.  When  the  train  reached 
Cassville,  wood  and  water  were  running  low,  and  a  stop 
was  made  to  get  a  fresh  supply.  The  doors  of  the  box 
cars  were  closed,  and  the  men  inside  could  not  be  seen. 
The  station  agent  at  this  place  was  very  inquisitive. 
He  wanted  to  know  why  so  small  and  insignificant  a 
freight  train  was  running  on  the  time  of  the  morning 
passenger  train.  Andrews  promptly  told  the  agent  that 
the  train  was  not  a  freight,  but  an  express,  and  that  it 
was  carrying  three  cars  of  gunpowder  to  Beauregard. 
The  agent  believed  the  story,  and  furnished  Andrews 
with  a  train  schedule. 

From  Cassville  the  distance  to  Kingston  was  seven 
miles,  and  at  that  point  a  freight  train  was  to  be  passed. 
When  Andrews  reached  the  place,  he  found  that  the 
freight  had  not  arrived.  He  therefore  switched  his 
train  into  a  siding  to  wait  for  the  freight  train,  and 
repeated  his  powder  story  for  the  benefit  of  the  inquisi- 
tive. When  the  freight  arrived,  he  saw  that  it  carried 
a  red  flag.  This  meant  another  train  was  on  the  road. 
After  another  long  half  hour's  wait,  the  second  freight 
train  came  in  sight,  and  Andrews  was  dismayed  to  see 
another  red  flag  displayed.  The  railroad  men  said 
another  train  was  following.  The  men  on  the  captured 
train  were  compelled  to  wait  more  than  an  hour.  To 
those  shut  up  in  the  box  cars  this  was  a  very  trying 
time.  They  had  no  means  of  knowing  what  had  hap- 
pened, or  what  was  about  to  happen,  until  Knight,  the 


engineer,  found  an  opportunity  to  saunter  by  and  tell 
them  what  the  trouble  was.  At  the  end  of  an  hour  the 
long  wait  was  over.  The  freight  trains  had  passed, 
and  the  captured  locomotive,  dragging  the  box  cars, 
went  swiftly  out  of  Kingston.  A  short  distance  be- 


yond, the  usual  stop  was  made,  and  the  wires  cut.  An 
attempt  was  made  to  tear  up  the  track  by  some  of  the 
men,  while  others  loaded  the  box  cars  with  railroad  ties. 
While  engaged  in  this  work,  the  men  heard  the  scream- 
ing whistle  of  a  locomotive  iif  full  pursuit.  They  were 
more  than  amazed  :  they  were  paralyzed.  If  a  pursu- 


289 

ing  locomotive  had  sprung  out  of  the  ground  at  their 
feet  with  a  full  head  of  steam  on,  they  could  not  have 
been  more  astonished.  They  had  just  passed  three 
freight  trains  headed  in  the  opposite  direction,  and  now 
here  was  a  pursuing  locomotive  coming  after  them  at 
full  speed,  and  with  a  full  head  of  steam  on.  Making 
one  spasmodic  effort,  they  broke  the  rail  they  were  try- 
ing to  tear  up. 

Reaching  Adairsville,  Andrews  and  his  men  found 
that  the -passenger  train  had  not  arrived.  But  it  was 
no  time  for  waiting.  They  resolved  to  take  every 
chance.  The  engineer  had  orders  to  send  the  locomo- 
tive along  at  full  speed.  He  was  very  willing  to  do 
this.  Calhoun  was  nine  miles  away,  and  if  that  station 
could  be  reached  before  the  passenger  train  left,  all 
would  be  well ;  if  not,  there  was  danger  of  a  collision. 
But  Andrews  took  all  the  chances.  The  throttle  of  the 
locomotive  was  pulled  wide  open,  and  the  train  started 
so  suddenly  and  so  swiftly  that  the  men  in  the  box  cars 
were  thrown  from  their  feet.  The  distance  to  Calhoun 
was  nine  miles,  and  the  train  bearing  Andrews  and  his 
men  made  it  in  seven  minutes  and  a  half,  —  pretty 
swift  traveling,  when  it  is  remembered  that  the  track 
was  full  of  short  curves,  and  not  in  the  best  condition. 

As  the  locomotive  neared  Calhoun,  Engineer  Knight 
gave  several  loud  blasts  on  the  whistle ;  and  it  was  well 
he  did  so,  for  the  passenger  train  had  just  begun  to  pull 
out  of  Calhoun  on  its  way  to  Adairsville.  If  the  whistle 
had  been  blown  a  moment  later  than  it  was,  the  passen- 
ger train  would  have  been  under  full  headway,  and  the 
signal  would  not  have  been  heard  ;  but  the  passenger 

STO.  OF   GA. —  19 


290 

train  had  just  begun  to  move,  and  was  going  slowly. 
The  whistle  was  heard,  and  the  engineer  backed  his 
train  to  Calhoun  again.  But  when  Andrews  and  his 
men  arrived,  they  found  a  new  difficulty  in  the  way. 
The  passenger  train  was  such  a  long  one  that  the  rear 
end  blocked  the  track.  Andrews  tried  to  get  the  con- 
ductor to  move  on  to  Adairsville  and  there  meet  the 
upbound  passenger  train ;  but  that  official  was  too  badly 
scared  by  the  danger  he  had  just  escaped  to  take  any 
more  chances,  and  he  refused  to  budge  until  the  other 
train  should  arrive.  This  would  be  fatal  to  the  plans  of 
Andrews,  and  that  bold  adventurer  made  up  his  mind 
that  the  time  had  come  for  force  to  be  used.  The  con- 
ductor was  finally  persuaded  to  allow  Andrews  to  go 
ahead  with  his  powder  train.  He  ran  a  little  more  than 
a  mile  beyond  Calhoun,  stopped  his  train,  ordered  the 
wire  cut  and  another  rail  torn  up.  While  they  were 
busily  engaged  in  this  work,  they  were  both  amazed 
and  alarmed  to  see  a  locomotive  approaching  from  the 
direction  of  Calhoun.  They  had  only  bent  the  rail,  and 
were  compelled  to  leave  it  and  get  out  of  the  way  of 
their  pursuers. 

Andrews  and  his  men  were  bold  and  intrepid,  even 
reckless  ;  but  the  men  who  were  pursuing  them  had  all 
these  qualities,  and  some  others  besides.  They  had  an 
energy  and  a  determination  that  nothing  could  stand  in 
the  way  of. 

We  have  seen  how  Superintendent  Murphy,  Conduc- 
tor W.  A.  Fuller,  and  Engineer  Jeff.  Cain  leaped  from' 
the  breakfast  table   at  Big  Shanty,  and  went  running 
after  the   flying  locomotive,  followed  by  the  laughter 


291 

and  jeers  of  the  thousands  of  loitering  soldiers  who 
enjoyed  the  spectacle ;  but  Murphy  and  Fuller  had  hit 
upon  a  plan  of  pursuit  the  moment  they  saw  that  their 
locomotive  had  been  captured,  and  the  plan  formed  in 
the  mind  of  each  was  the  same:  consequently  they  had 
no  need  to  stop  and  discuss  the'  matter.  They  ran 
along  the  track  a  considerable  distance  until  they  came 
to  a  hand  car  such  as  the  track  hands  use.  With  this 
they  made  tolerable  speed ;  but  suddenly,  while  they 
were  poling  along  at  a  great  rate,  the  car  tumbled  from 
the  track.  They  had  now  come  to  the  place  where  the 
raiders  had  torn  up  the  first  rail.  The  pursuers  were 
not  hurt  by  the  fall.  They  jumped  to  their  feet,  pushed 
the  car  over  the  obstruction,  and  were  soon  on  their 
way  again,  going  even  more  rapidly  than  before.  In 
this  way  Murphy  and  Fuller  came  to  Etowah  station, 
where  they  found  a  superannuated  locomotive  engaged 
in  hauling  wood.  To  this  rickety  old  machine  they 
attached  a  flat  car  loaded  with  soldiers,  and  made  their 
way  to  Kingston.  As  Andrews  and  his  men  had  been 
delayed  at  Kingston  for  more  than  an  hour,  waiting  for 
the  three  freight  trains  to  pass,  Murphy  and  Fuller 
reached  Kingston  only  ten  minutes  after  the  raiders 
had  left.  Here  one  of  the  best  locomotives  on  the  road 
was  pressed  into  service,  and  the  pursuit  continued. 
It  was  at  this  time  that  Andrews  and  his  men  were 
engaged  in  tearing  up  the  track  beyond  Kingston,  and 
where  they  were  so  much  amazed  to  hear  the  whistle  of 
the  pursuing  locomotive.  Murphy  and  Fuller,  who  were 
on  the  watch  for  breaks  in  the  road,  saw  the  lifted  rail  in 
time  to  avoid  trouble.  They  left  their  locomotive',  with 


2Q2 

'..he  flat  car  and  soldiers,  standing  on  the  track, 'and 
again  set  out  on  foot  in  pursuit  of  the  stolen  locomotive. 
After  running  and  walking  hard  for  two  miles,  they 
met  a  freight  train  which  had  left  Adairsville  coming 
south  just  as  Andrews  and  his  men  had  left  that  station 
going  north.  They  flagged  the  train  down,  reversed  it, 
and  ran  it  back  into  Adairsville. 

Andrews  and  his  men  had  left  Adairsville  not  long 
before,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  a  passenger  train  going 
south  was  overdue  there.  Murphy  and  Fuller  did  not 
hesitate  an  instant.  They  got  together  a  force  of  track- 
men and  soldiers,  and,  without  telling  them  of  the  dan- 
gers ahead,  went  rushing  to  Calhoun.  Andrews,  as 
has  been  seen,  had  caused  the  overdue  passenger  train 
to  remain  at  Calhoun,  and  had  finally  induced  the  con- 
ductor to  let  the  "  powder  train  "  pass.  Beyond  Cal- 
houn he  stopped  to  cut  the  wire  and  tear  up  another 
rail,  and  had  actually  pried  it  above  the  stringers  and 
bent  it,  when  they  heard  the  pursuing  locomotive,  and 
then  saw  it  rounding  a  curve  some  distance  away. 
Murphy  and  Fuller  saw  the  bent  rail,  but,  being  deter- 
mined to  take  all  the  chances,  drove  their  engine  over 
it  under  a  full  head  of  steam.  The  rail  settled  back  in 
its  place,  and  the  pursuing  train  went  over  safely. 

From  this  point  the  chase  was  the  most  thrilling  and 
reckless  of  any  of  which  we  have  record.  In  order  to 
delay  pursuit,  Andrews  and  his  men  began  to  drop  on 
the  track  behind  them  the  cross-ties  they  had  intended 
to  use  to  burn  the  bridges.  Fuller  seated  himself  on 
the  cowcatcher,  and  when  a  cross-tie  was  found  to  be 
in  a  dangerous  position,  the  locomotive  would  slow  up, 


293 

and  he  would  run  forward  and  remove  the  tie.  Seeing 
that  this  would  not  do,  Andrews  uncoupled  one  of  his 
box  cars  and  left  it  on  the  track.  Murphy  and  Fuller 
pushed  it  to  a  siding,  and  there  left  it.  A  second  car 
was  dropped,  and  this  was  disposed  of  in  the  same  way. 
The  fugitives  failed  to  gain  on  their  pursuers.  The 
chase  went  on  until  Andrews  found  his  supply  of  fuel 
running  short.  He  ran  his  locomotive  to  a  wood  rack  ; 
but  before  the  tender  was  half  full,  Murphy  and  Fuller 
came  in  sight ;  and  while  they  were  removing  an  ob- 
stacle that  had  been  placed  on  the  track,  the  soldiers 
they  had  brought  with  them  opened  such  a  hot  fire  on 
Andrews  and  his  men,  that  they  had  to  take  refuge  in 
the  box  car.  The  raiders  then,  without  having  secured 
as  much  wood  as  they  wanted,  continued  their  flight. 

The  chase  now  became  more  interesting  than  ever. 
The  people  standing  near  the  stations  in  towns  and  vil- 
lages knew  not  what  to  make  of  the  scene.  Before  they 
could  recover  from  the  surprise  of  seeing  a  locomotive 
with  one  box  car  dashing  madly  over  the  switches,  they 
would  be  struck  dumb  with  amazement  at  seeing  an- 
other train  come  thundering  along,  carrying  a  flat  car 
full  of  excited  soldiers.  Although  all  the  odds  were 
now  against  Andrews,  he  was  still  intent  on  doing  what 
he  set  out  to  do.  If  he  could  burn  the  first  Chicka- 
mauga  bridge,  he  would  be  safe.  He  would  then  have 
ample  leisure  to  burn  the  whole  series  of  bridges,  and 
go  on  to  Chattanooga  without  further  trouble.  Bent  on 
this,  he  ordered  his  men  to  throw  a  good  part  of  the 
fuel  on  the  track;  and  while  the  pursuers  were  remov- 
ing this,  the  raiders  made  an  effort  to  tear  up  a  rail. 


294 

To  make  the  matter  more  certain,  they  selected  one  of 
the  many  curves  not  far  from  the  Chickamauga  River. 
They  had  hardly  got  under  way  again,  when  they  saw 
the  smokestack  of  the  pursuing  locomotive.  They 
watched  to  see  it  pause  or  be  dashed  to  pieces,  but 
instead  of  that  it  went  around  the  curve  that  had  been 
derailed  as  swiftly  and  as  smoothly  as  if  the  track  had 
been  newly  laid  and  well  ballasted.  This  seemed  to  be 
in  the  nature  of  a  miracle  to  Andrews  and  his  men,  and 
the  mystery  was  not  explained  to  the  survivors  for  years 
afterwards ;  then  Mr.  Antony  Murphy  showed  that 
the  rail  had  been  removed  from  the  inside  of  the  curve. 
If  it  had  been  removed  from  the  outside,  nothing  would 
have  prevented  the  destruction  of  the  pursuers. 

Andrews,  fertile  as  he  was  in  expedients,  had  now 
come  to  his  last  one.  He  ordered  the  box  car  to  be  set 
on  fire.  To  carry  this  out,  nearly  all  the  fuel  in  the 
tender  was  piled  up  in  the  car.  Soon  the  car  was  in  a 
blaze,  and  the  locomotive  hauled  it  swiftly  along.  A 
volume  of  roaring  flames  streamed  far  behind.  Soon 
the  first  bridge  over  the  Chickamauga  was  reached.  It 
was  a  covered  bridge.  A  full  stop  was  made  by 
Andrews,  the  blazing  car  uncoupled,  and  more  fuel 
piled  on  the  flames.  A  heavy  rain  had  come  up,  and 
it  was  falling  in  torrents  at  that  moment :  consequently 
the  flames  were  not  easily  communicated  to  the  struc- 
ture of  the  bridge. 

The  emergency  that  the  pursuers  had  to  meet  was 
a  serious  one,  but  Murphy  and  Fuller  were  quite 
equal  to  it.  Antony  Murphy  was  running  the  locomo- 
tive ;  and  he  hesitated  not  a  moment,  but  went  thunder- 


295 


ing  into  the  covered  bridge,  and   pushed   the    flaming 
car  from  it.     Once  off  the  bridge,  where  the  rain  could 
get  at  it,  the  blazing  car  was  no  longer  dangerous.     It 
was  rolled  out  of  the  way ;  and  by  this  time  Andrews 
and  his  men  were  out  of  sight  again,  but  not  for  long. 
The  pursuing  locomotive   soon   began  to  overtake  the 
fleeing    raiders.       Andrews    had    well- 
nigh  exhausted  all  his  fuel,  and  the 
steam   in   the   boiler   of   his   loco- 
motive"   began    to    get    low. 
There   was    now   but    one 
thing  to  do,  and  that  was 
to  abandon  it.     So,  while 
it  was  still   going 
at  a  good  rate  of 
speed,      Andrews 
gave  the  word  and 
set  the   example  ; 
and    he    and    his 
daring   band    tum- 
bled from  the  loco- 
motive   as  best  they 
could,  and  fled  through  the 
woods    in   all   directions.     All 

were  finally  caught  and  put  in  prison  in  Chattanooga. 
The  raid  had  given  the  people  and  the  military 
authorities  such  a  scare,  that  Andrews  and  seven  of  the 
men  were  tried  and  hanged.  Six  made  their  escape, 
and  never  were  recaptured,  and  six  were  regularly 
exchanged.  The  hanging  of  Andrews  and  his  seven 
companions  is  to  be  regretted.  They  were  brave 


296 

enough  to  deserve  a  better  fate.  They  were  engaged 
in  the  boldest  adventure  of  the  war,  and  one  of  the  best 
planned.  It  was  only  by  the  merest  chance  that  they 
had  two  such  men  as  Murphy  and  Fuller  to  oppose 
them.  Either  of  these  men  was  fully  the  equal  of 
Andrews  in  intelligence,  boldness,  and  energy,  and  that 
is  saying  a  great  deal.  They  took  chances  and  ran 
risks,  in  pursuing  Andrews  and  his  men,  that  won 
the  enthusiastic  admiration  of  those  brave  and  reckless 
raiders.  If  the  daring  project  had  succeeded,  the  Fed- 
erals would  have  been  able  to  strike  a  severe  blow  at 
the  Confederacy's  main  source  of  war  supplies  much 
earlier  than  they  were  afterwards  able  to  do. 


THE    RECONSTRUCTION    PERIOD. 

HPHE  people  of  the  State  had  not  recovered  from  the 
1  chaos  and  confusion  into  which  they  had  been 
thrown  by  Sherman's  march  to  the  sea,  when  the  news 
came  that  Lee  had  surrendered  in  Virginia,  and  Gen- 
eral Joseph  E.  Johnston  (who  had  been  restored  to  his 
command)  in  North  Carolina.  Thus  a  sudden  and  vio- 
lent end  had  been  put  to  all  hopes  of  establishing  a 
separate  government.  General  Sherman,  who  was  as 
relentless  in  war  as  he  was  pacific  and  gentle  when  the 
war  was  over,  had,  in  coming  to  terms  with  General 
Johnston,  advanced  the  theory  that  the  South  never 
had  dissolved  the  Union,  and  that  the  States  were 
restored  to  their  old  places  the  moment  they  laid  down 
their  arms.  This  theory  was  not  only  consistent  with 
the  views  of  the  Union  men  of  the  North,  but  with  the 
nature  and  character  of  the  Republic  itself.  But  in  the 
short  and  common-sense  cut  that  Sherman  had  made  to 
a  solution,  he  left  the  politicians  out  in  the  cold,  and 
they  cried  out  against  it  as  a  hideous  and  ruthless  piece 
of  assumption  on  the  part  of  a  military  man  to  attempt 
to  have  any  opinions  after  the  war  was  over.  Any  set- 
tlement that  left  the  politicians  out  in  the  cold  was  not 
to  be  tolerated.  Some  of  these  gentlemen  had  a  very 
big  and  black  crow  to  pick  with  the  South.  Some  of 

297 


298 

them,  in  the  course  of  the  long  debate  ovef  slavery, 
had  had  their  feelings  hurt  by  Southern  men  ;  and 
although  these  wrangles  had  been  purely  personal  and 
individual,  the  politicians  felt  that  the  whole  South 
ought  to  be  humiliated  still  further. 

The  politicians  would  have  been  entirely  harmless  if 
the  life  of  President  Lincoln  had  been  spared-  During 
the  war,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  greatly  misunderstood  even 
at  the  North ;  but  it  is  now  the  general  verdict  of  his- 
tory, that,  take  him  for  all  in  all,  he  was  beyond  all 
comparison  the  greatest  man  of  his  time,  the  one  man 
who,  above  all  others,  was  best  fitted  to  bring  the 
people  of  the  two  sections  together  again,  and  to  make 
the  Union  a  more  perfect  Union  than  ever  before.  But 
unfortunately  Mr.  Lincoln  fell  by  the  hands  of  an  assas- 
sin, and  never  had  an  opportunity  to  carry  out  the 
great  policy  of  pacification  which  could  only  have  been 
sustained  at  that  time  by  his  great  influence,  by  his 
patience,  that  was  supreme,  and  by  his  wisdom,  that  has 
proved  to  be  almost  infallible  in  working  out  the  salva- 
tion of  the  Union.  After  Lee's  surrender,  the  interests 
of  the  South  could  have  sustained  no  severer  blow  than 
the  death  of  Lincoln.  His  successor,  Andrew  Johnson, 
was  a  well-meaning  man,  but  a  very  narrow-minded  one 
in  some  respects,  and  a  very  weak  one  in  others.  It  is 
but  justice  to  him  to  say  that  he  did  his  best  to  carry 
out  Lincoln's  policy  of  pacification,  and  his  failure  was 
no  greater  than  that  of  any  other  leading  politician  of 
his  time  would  have  been. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  describe  the  condition  of 
the  people  at  this  time.  There  was  no  civil  law  in 


299 

operation,  and  the  military  government  that  had  been 
established  was  not  far-reaching  enough  to  restrain  vio- 
lence of  any  sort.  The  negroes  had  been  set  free,  and 
were  supported  by  means  of  a  "  freedmen's  bureau." 
They  were  free,  and  yet  they  wanted  some  practical 
evidence  of  it.  To  obtain  this,  they  left  the  plantations 
on  which  they  had  been  born,  and  went  tramping  about 
the  country  in  the  most  restless  and  uneasy  manner, 


A  great  many  of  them  believed  that  freedom  meant 
idleness,  such  as  they  had  seen  white  folks  indulge  in. 
The  country  negroes  flocked  to  the  towns  and  cities  in 
great  numbers,  and  the  freedmen's  bureau,  active  as  its 
agents  were,  had  a  great  deal  more  than  it  could  attend 
to.  Such  peace  and  order  as  existed  was  not  main- 
tained by  any  authority,  but  grew  naturally  out  of  the 
awe  that  had  come  over  both  whites  and  blacks  at  find- 
ing their  condition  and  their  relations  so  changed.  The 


3°° 

whites  could  hardly  believe  that  slavery  no  longer  ex- 
isted. The  negroes  had  grave  doubts  as  to  whether 
they  were  really  free.  To  make  matters  worse,  a  great 
many  small  politicians,  under  pretense  of  protecting  the 
negroes,  but  really  to  secure  their  votes,  began  a  cru- 
sade against  the  South  in  Congress,  the  like  of  which 
can  hardly  be  found  paralleled  outside  of  our  own  his- 
tory. The  people  of  the  South  found  out  long  ago 
that  the  politicians  of  the  hour  did  not  represent  the 
intentions  and  desires  of  the  people  of  the  North ;  and 
there  is  much  comfort  and  consolation  to  be  got  out  of 
that  fact,  even  at  this  late  day.  But  at  that  time  the 
bitterest  dose  of  reconstruction  was  the  belief  that  the 
best  opinion  of  the  North  sustained  the  ruinous  policy 
that  had  been  put  in  operation. 

The  leading  men  of  the  State  were  all  disfranchised, 
—  deprived  of  the  privilege  of  voting,  a  privilege  that 
was  freely  conferred  on  the  negroes.  A  newspaper 
editor  in  Macon  was  imprisoned,  and  his  paper  sup- 
pressed, for  declaring,  in  regard  to  taking  the  amnesty 
oath,  that  he  had  to  "  fortify  himself  for  the  occasion 
with  a  good  deal  of  Dutch  courage."  The  wife  of 
General  Toombs  was  ordered  by  an  assistant  commis- 
sioner of  the  freedmen's  bureau  to  vacate  her  home 
with  only  two  weeks'  provisions,  the  grounds  of  the 
order  being  that  the  premises  were  "  abandoned  prop- 
erty," and,  as  such,  were  to  be  seized,  and  applied  to 
the  uses  of  the  freedmen's  bureau.  The  superior  offi- 
cer of  this  assistant  commissioner,  being  a  humane  and 
kindly  man,  revoked  the  order. 

These  were   the  days  when    the    carpet-bagger    and 


the  scalawag  flourished, — the  camp  followers  of  the 
Northern  army,  who  wanted  money  and  office ;'  and  the 
native-born  Southerner,  who  wanted  office  and  money. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  the  indignities  heaped  on  the 
people  led  to  acts  of  retaliation  that  nothing  else  could 
excuse ;  but  they  were  driven  to  desperation.  It 
seemed,  in  that  hour,  that  their  liberties  had  been 
entirely  withdrawn.  Governor  Brown,  who  had  for- 
merly been  so  popular,  was  denounced  because  he 
advised  Georgians  to  accept  the  situation.  He,  with 
other  wise  men,  thought  it  was  a  waste  of  time  and 
opportunity  to  discuss  constitutional  questions  at  a  mo- 
ment when  the  people  were  living  under  bayonet  rule. 
Joe  Brown's  plan  was  to  accept  the  situation,  and  then 
get  rid  of  it  as  quickly  as  possible.  Ben  Hill's  plan 
was  to  fight  it  to  the  last.  There  was  a  fierce  con- 
troversy between  these  two  leaders;  and  such  strong 
expressions  were  used  on  both  sides,  that  General  Pope 
made  them  the  subject  of  a  curious  letter  to  his  com- 
mander in  chief,  General  Grant. 

General  Pope  seemed  to  be  afraid  that  war  was 
about  to  break  out  again,  and  he  assumed  charge  of 
everything.  He  removed  and  appointed  mayors  of 
cities,  solicitors,  and  sheriffs.  He  closed  the  State 
University  because  a  student  made  a  speech  which 
wras  in  effect  a  defense  of  civil  law.  After  a  while 
the  general  said  he  would  reopen  the  institution  if 
the  press  of  the  State  would  say  nothing  about  the 
affair.  In  1867,  General  Pope  ordered  an  election  to 
be  held  for  delegates  to  a  State  convention.  The  polls 
were  kept  open  five  days,  and  voters  were  allowed  to 


302 

vote  in  any  precinct  in  any  county  upon  their  making 
oath  that  they  were  entitled  to  vote.  The  convention 
met,  but,  in  the  nature  of  things,  could  not  be  a  repre- 
sentative body.  Thousands  of  the  best  and  most  rep- 
resentative men  of  the  State  were  not  allowed  to  vote, 
and  thousands  of  other  good  men  refused  to  take  part 
in  an  election  held  under  the  order  of  a  military  com- 
mander :  consequently,  when  the  convention  met,  its 
membership  was  made  up  of  the  political  rag-tag-and- 
bobtail  of  that  day.  There  were  a  few  good  men  in 
the  body,  but  they  had  little  influence  over  the  igno- 
rant negroes  and  vicious  whites  who  had  taken  advan- 
tage of  their  first  and  last  opportunity  to  hold  office. 

The  authority  of  this  convention  was  not  recognized 
by  the  State  government,  and  this  contest  gave  rise  to  a 
fresh  conflict  between  the  State  officials  and  the  mili- 
tary dictators  who  had  been  placed  over  them.  The 
convention  needed  money  to  pay  its  expenses,  and 
passed  an  ordinance  directing  the  treasurer  of  the  State 
to  pay  forty  thousand  dollars  for  this  purpose  to  the 
disbursing  officer  of  the  convention.  General  Pope 
issued  an  order  to  the  treasurer  to  pay  this  amount. 
The  treasurer  declined  to  pay  out  the  money,  for  the 
simple  reason  that  he  was  forbidden  by  law  to  pay  out 
money  except  on  an  order  or  warrant  drawn  by  the  gov- 
ernor, and  sanctioned  by  the  comptroller  general. 

About  this  time  General  Meade  was  appointed  to  rule 
in  Georgia  in  place  of  General  Pope,  and  he  found  this 
matter  unsettled  when  he  took  charge.  So  he  wrote  to 
Governor  Jenkins,  and  requested  him  to  draw  his  war- 
rant on  the  treasury  for  forty  thousand  dollars.  The 


303 

governor  could  find  no  authority  in  law  for  paying 
over  this  sum,  and  he  therefore  refused.  But  civil  gov- 
ernment was  not  of  much  importance  to  the  military  at 
that  time ;  so,  when  he  had  received  the  governor's 
letter,  General  Meade  drew  a  sheet  of  paper  before  him, 
called  for  pen  and  ink,  and  issued  "  General  Order  No. 
8,"  in  which  the  announcement  is  made  that  "the  fol- 
lowing-named officers  are  detailed  for-  duty  in  the  dis- 
trict of  Georgia :  Brevet  Brigadier  General  Thomas  H. 
Ruger,  Colonel  33d  Infantry,  to  be  Governor  of  the  State 
of  Georgia;  Brevet  Captain  Charles  F.  Rockwell,  Ord- 
nance Corps  U.  S.  Army,  to  be  Treasurer  of  the  State 
of  Georgia." 

In  this  way  the  rag-tag-and-bobtail  convention  got  its 
money,  but  it  got  also  the  hatred  and  contempt  of  the 
people;  and  the  Republican  party, —  the  party  that 
had  been  molded  and  made  by  the  wise  policy  of  Lin- 
coln,—  by  indorsing  these  foolish  measures  of  recon- 
struction, and  putting  its  influence  behind  the  outrages 
that  were  committed  in  the  name  of  "loyalty,"  aroused 
prejudices  in  the  minds  of  the  Southern  people  that 
have  not  died  away  to  this  day.  Some  of  the  more 
vicious  of  the  politicians  of  that  epoch  organized  what 
was  known  as  "The  Union  League."  It  was  a  secret 
political  society,  and  had  branches  in  every  county  of 
the  State.  Through  the  medium  of  this  secret  organiza- 
tion, the  basest  deception  was  practiced  on  the  ignorant 
negroes.  They  were  solemnly  told  that  their  old  mas- 
ters were  making  arrangements  to  reenslave  them,  and 
all  sorts  of  incendiary  suggestions  were  made  to  them. 
It  was  by  means  of  this  secret  society  that  the  negroes 


304 


were  made  to  believe  that  they  would  be  entitled  to 
forty  acres  and  a  mule  for  voting  for  the  candidates  of 
the  carpet-baggers. 

The  effect  of  all  this  was  to  keep  the  blacks  in  a  con- 
stant state  of  turmoil.     They  were  too  uneasy  to  settle 

down  to  work,  and  too  sus- 
picious to  enter  into  con- 
tracts with  the  whites  :  so 
they  went  wandering 
about  the  State  from 
town  to  town  and  from 
county  to  county,  com- 
mitting all  sorts  of 
.  crimes.  As  the  civil 
system  had  been  en- 
tirely overthrown  by 
\  the  military,  there 
was  neither  law  nor^ 
order ;  and  this  con- 
dition was  very  seriously 
aggravated  by  the  incen- 
diary teachings  of  The  Union 
League.  The  people,  therefore, 
in  some  parts  of  the  South,  offset  this  secret 
•••'  society  with  another,  which  was  called  the  "  Ku 
Klux  Klan."  This  organization  was  intended  to  pre- 
vent violence  and  to  restore  order  in  communities  ;  but 
the  spirit  of  it  was  very  frequently  violated  by  lawless 
persons,  who,  acting  in  the  name  of  the  "  Klan,"  sub- 
jected defenseless  negroes  to  cruel  treatment. 

There  is  no  darker  period  in  the  history  of  the  State 


305 

than  that  of  reconstruction.  The  tax  payers  were 
robbed  in  the  most  reckless  way,  and  the  rights  of 
citizens  were  entirely  disregarded.  Even  when  the 
Republican  Congress,  responsive  to  the  voice  of  con- 
servative Northern  opinion,  turned  its  back  on  the 
carpet-bag  government  of  Georgia,  these  men  made  a 
tremendous  effort  to  extend  their  rule  unlawfully.  The 
carpet-bag  Legislature  was  in  session  three  hundred  and 
twenty-eight  days,  and  cost  the  State  nearly  one  million 
dollars;  whereas  the  cost  of  legislation  from  1853  to 
1862,  nine  years,  was  not  nine  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars. In  one  year  the  State  Road  took  in  a  million 
dollars  and  a  half ;  and  of  this  immense  sum,  only 
forty-five  thousand  dollars  was  paid  into  the  treasury. 
Added  to  this,  the  road  had  been  run  into  debt  to  the 
amount  of  six  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  it  had 
been  run  down  to  such  an  extent  that  five  hundred 
thousand  was  needed  to  place  it  in  good  condition. 

During  this  trying  period,  Joseph  E.  Brown,  who  had 
been  so  popular  with  the  people,  was  under  a  cloud. 
He  had  advised  accepting  the  reconstruction  measures 
in  the  first  instance,  so  that  they  might  be  carried  out 
by  men  who  had  the  confidence  and  the  esteem  of  the 
State ;  but  this  wise  proposition  brought  upon  his  head 
only  reproaches  and  abuse.  The  public  mind  was  in 
such  a  state  of  frenzied  uneasiness,  the  result  of  carpet- 
bag robbery  and  recklessness,  that  the  people  would 
listen  to  no  remedy  except  passionate  defiance  and 
denunciation.  When  the  name  of  Brown  was  men- 
tioned only  as  a  handle  of  abuse,  Benjamin  H.  Hill 
became  the  leader  and  the  idol  of  the  people.  When, 

STO.  OF   GA.  —  2O 


306 

in  1870,  Hill  issued  an  address  declaring  that  the  recon- 
struction must  be  accepted  by  the  people,  he  was  at 
once  made  the  object  of  the  most  violent  attacks.  But 
Brown  was  right  in  1864,  and  Hill  was  right  in  1870, 
and  the  people  were  wrong.  They  paid  dearly  for 
their  blindness  in  the  wrongs  imposed  on  them  by  men 
who  were  neither  Republicans  nor  reconstructionists  at 
heart,  but  public  plunderers. 

In  1871  the  carpet-bag  government  began  to  totter. 
The  governor  left  the  State,  and  staid  away  so  long 
that  the  State  treasurer,  a  man  of  stern  integrity,  re- 
fused to  pay  warrants  that  were  not  signed  by  a  resi- 
dent governor.  Finally  the  governor  returned,  but 
almost  immediately  resigned.  In  a  short  time  the  real 
representatives  of  the  people  took  charge  of  affairs,  and 
since  that  time  the  State  has  been  in  a  highly  pros- 
perous condition. 


"THE    NEW   SOUTH." 

WHEN  the  people  of  Georgia  had  once  more 
gained  control  of  their  State  government,  the 
political  tempest  that  had  been  raging  slowly  quieted 
down.  A  pot  that  has  been  boiling  furiously  doesn't 
grow  cool  in  a  moment,  but  it  ceases  almost  instantly 
to  boil ;  and  though  it  may  cool  slowly,  it  cools  surely. 
There  was  not  an  end  of  prejudice  and  unreason  the 
moment  the  people  had  disposed  of  those  who  were 
plundering  them,  but  prejudice  began  to  lose  its  force 
as  soon  as  men  had  the  •  opportunity  to  engage  in  calm 
discussion,  and  to  look  forward  hopefully  to  the  future. 
In  the  midst  of  bayonet  and  carpet-bag  rule,  the  State 
could  not  make  any  real  progress.  It  is  only  during 
a  time  of  peace  and  contentment  that  the  industrial 
forces  of  a  community  begin  to  display  their  real 
energy. 

No  State  in  the  South  had  suffered  so  severely  as 
Georgia  during  the  war.  She  placed  in  the  field  more 
than  a  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  soldiers,  —  twenty 
thousand  more  than  her  voting  population  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  war.  The  taxable  wealth  of  the  State 
in  1867  was  more  than  four  hundred  and  eighty-one 
millions  less  than  it  was  in  1861,  —  a  loss  of  more  than 
three  fourths.  After  the  reconstruction  period,  all  the 

307 


308 

State  had  to  show,  in  return  for  the  treasure  that  had 
been  squandered  by  the  carpet-bag  politicians,  was  a 
few  poorly  equipped  railroads  that  had  been  built  on 
the  State's  credit.  In  some  instances  railroad  bonds 
were  indorsed  when  there  was  no  road  to  show  for 
them ;  in  others,  bonds  were  issued  in  behalf  of  the 
same  road  under  different  names ;  so  that  the  people 
lost  by  fraud  as  much  or  more  than  the  amount  of  im- 
provement that  had  been  made.  The  "  developers " 
who  had  connected  themselves  with  the  bayonet  admin- 
istration were  much  more  interested  in  "developing" 
their  own  private  interests  than  they  were  in  develop- 
ing the  resources  of  the  State. 

But  when  the  bayonet  administration  had  been  driven 
out,  not  less  by  Northern  opinion,  which  had  become 
disgusted  with  the  reckless  dishonesty  that  was  practiced 
under  the  name  of  republicanism,  than  by  the  energetic 
opposition  of  all  good  citizens  of  the  State,  there  came 
a  welcome  end  to  the  bitter  controversy  that  had  been 
going  on.  The  fierce  rancor  and  prejudice  that  had 
been  aroused  gradually  died  out;  so  that  in  1872,  shortly 
after  the  State  had  been  rescued  from  misrule,  Horace 
Greeley,  the  great  abolition  editor,  received  in  Georgia 
a  majority  of  more  than  seventy-one  thousand  votes 
over  the  straight-out  Democratic  candidate.  This,  more 
than  any  other  event,  showed  the  improving  temper  of 
the  people,  and  their  willingness  to  make  compromises 
and  concessions  for  the  purpose  of  restoring  the  Union 
and  burying  the  spirit  of  sectionalism. 

With  this  improved  temper  there  came  an  improve- 
ment in  the  material  conditions  of  the  State.  Free 


309 

negro  labor  was  a  problem  which  the  planters  had  to 
meet.  For  a  time  it  presented  many  difficulties.  It  was 
hard  to  make  and  enforce  contracts  with  the  negroes, 
who  had  been  demoralized  and  made  suspicious  by  The 
Union  League  and  by  the  harsh  and  unjustifiable  acts 
of  men  who  acted  under  the  name,  but  not  under  the 
authority,  of  the  Ku  Klux  Klan.  But  gradually  all  these 
difficulties  were  overcome.  The  negroes  settled  down 
to  work,  and  with  them  a  good  many  white  men  who 
had  been  left  adrift  by  the  fortunes  of  war  and  the  pros- 
tration of  industries.  This  vast  change  was  not  brought 
about  in  a  day  or  a  month,  or  even  in  a  year,  but  was 
the  gradual  outgrowth  of  a  bitter  feeling,  —  the  slow 
awakening  to  the  fact  that  matters  were  not  as  bad  on 
a  better  acquaintance  as  they  had  seemed.  There  was, 
of  course,  the  negro  problem ;  but  the  wiser  men  soon 
saw  that  this  problem,  such  as  it  was,  would  settle  itself 
sooner  or  later.  The  result  was  that  everybody  began 
to  take  a  day  off  from  politics  occasionally,  and  devote 
themselves  to  the  upbuilding  of  the  resources  of  the 
State. 

At  first,  and  for  several  years,  the  negro  problem 
seemed  to  be  a  very  serious  matter  indeed.  All  the 
statesmen,  all  the  politicians,  all  the  historians,  and  all 
the  newspaper  editors,  discussed  it  morning,  noon,  and 
night  for  a  long  time.  Some  wanted  it  settled  one  way, 
and  some  another.  At  the  North  the  men  who  had 
indorsed  and  approved  the  bayonet  governments  of  the 
South  thought  that  laws  ought  to  be  passed  giving  the 
negroes  social  equality  with  the  whites.  Finally  a  com- 
promise was  made  with  what  is  called  the  "  Civil  Rights 


3io 

Law,"  which  was  intended  to  give  the  negroes  the  same 
privileges  at  the  hotels,  theaters,  and  other  public  places, 
that  the  whites  had.  The  Northern  politicians  pre- 
tended to  believe  that  the  efforts  they  were  making 
were  for  the  benefit  of  the  negroes,  though  no  doubt 
the  majority  of  them  knew  better.  Of  course,  the 
Southern  people  resisted  the  pressure  thus  brought  to 
bear  by  the  Northern  sectionalists,  and  the  result  was 
what  might  have  been  expected.  The  condition  of  the 
negro  was  made  more  uncomfortable  than  ever,  and  the 
color  line  was  more  closely  drawn.  To  show  how  short- 
sighted the  politicians  were  and  are,  it  is  only  necessary 
to  call  attention  to  one  fact,  and  it  is  this  :  that  while 
the  Civil  Rights  Law  has  kept  negroes  out  of  public 
places  both  North  and  South,  they  ride  on  the  street 
cars  side  by  side  with  the  white  people,  and  it  frequently 
happens  that  an  old  negro  woman  who  comes  into  a 
crowded  car  is  given  a  seat  by  some  Southerner  who 
has  tender  recollections  of  his  negro  "mammy." 

It  is  worthy  of  note,  that  while  the  politicians  on  both 
sides  were  fighting  the  shadows  that  the  "negro  prob- 
lem "  called  up,  the  problem  was  solving  itself  in  the 
only  way  that  such  vast  problems  can  be  settled  in  the 
order  of  Providence,  —  by  the  irresistible  elements  of 
time  and  experience.  A  great  deal  of  misery,  suffering, 
and  discontent  would  have  been  spared  to  both  races, 
if,  after  the  war,  the  conservative  men  of  the  North  had 
either  insisted  on  the  policy  that  Abraham  Lincoln  had 
mapped  out,  or  had  said  to  the  pestiferous  politicians 
who  were  responsible  for  carpet-bag  rule,  "Hands  off!" 
No  doubt  some  injustice  would  have  been  done  to  indi- 


viduals  if  the  North  had  permitted  the  negroes  to  work 
out  their  political  salvation  alone,  but  the  race  itself 
would  be  in  a  better  condition  every  way  than  it  is  to- 
day; for  outside  interference  has  worked  untold  dam- 


age and  hardship  to  the  negro.  It  has  given  him  false 
ideas  of  the  power  and  purpose  of  government,  and  it 
has  blinded  his  eyes  to  the  necessity  of  individual  effort. 
It  is  by  individual  effort  alone  that  the  negro  race  must 
work  out  its  destiny.  This  is  the  history  of  the  white 


312 

race,  and  it  must  be  the  history  of  all  races  that  move 
forward. 

When  Georgia,  with  the  rest  of  the  Southern  States, 
had  passed  safely  through  the  reconstruction  period,  the 
people,  as  has  been  seen,  found  themselves  facing  new 
conditions  and  new  possibilities.  Slavery  had  been  abol- 
ished utterly  and  forever ;  and  wise  men  breathed  freer 
when  they  saw  that  a  great  obstacle  to  progress  and 
development  had  been  abolished  with  it.  Instinctively 
everybody  felt  that  here  was  cause  for  congratulation. 
A  few  public  men,  bolder  than  the  rest,  looking  out  on 
the  prospect,  thanked  God  that  slavery  was  no  more. 
They  expected  to  be  attacked  for  such  utterances,  but 
they  were  applauded ;  and  it  was  soon  discovered,  much 
to  the  surprise  of  everybody,  that  the  best  sentiment  of 
the  South  was  heartily  glad  that  slavery  was  out  of  the 
way.  Thus,  with  new  conditions,  new  prospects,  and 
new  hopes,  —  with  a  new  fortune,  in  fact,  —  it  was  nat- 
ural that  some  lively  prophet  should  lift  up  his  voice  and 
cry,  "  Behold  the  New  South!  " 

And  it  was  and  is  the  new  South,  —  the  old  South 
made  new  by  events ;  the  old  South  with  new  channels, 
in  which  its  Anglo-Saxon  energies  may  display  them- 
selves; the  old  South  with  new  possibilities  of  greatness, 
that  would  never  have  offered  themselves  while  slavery 
lasted.  After  these  hopes,  and  in  pursuit  of  these  pros- 
pects, Georgia  has  led  the  way.  Hundreds  of  miles  of 
new  railroads  have  been  built  in  her  borders  since  the 
dark  days  of  reconstruction,  hundreds  of  new  factories 
have  been  built,  immense  marble  beds  and  granite 
quarries  have  been  put  in  operation,  new  towns  have 


313 

sprung  into  existence,  and  in  thousands  of  new  direc- 
tions employment  has  been  given  to  labor  and  capital. 
In  short,  the  industrial  progress  the  State  has  made 
since  1870  is  more  than  double  that  of  the  previous  fifty 
years. 

It  was  natural,  that,  out  of  the  new  conditions,  new 
men  should  arise ;  and,  as  if  in  response  to  the  needs  of 
the  hour  and  the  demands  of  the  people,  there  arose  a 
man  who,  with  no  selfish  ends  to  serve  and  no  selfish 
ambition  to  satisfy,  was  able  to  touch  the  hearts  of  the 
people  of  both  sections,  and  to  subdue  the  spirit  of  sec- 
tionalism that  was  still  rampant  long  after  the  carpet- 
bag governments  in  the  South  had  been  overthrown  by 
the  force  of  public  opinion.  That  man  was  Henry 
Woodfin  Grady.  He  took  up  his  public  work  in  earnest 
in  1876,  though  he  had  been  preparing  for  it  since  the 
day  that  he  could  read  a  school  history.  In  that  year 
he  became  one  of  the  editors  of  the  "  Atlanta  Constitu- 
tion," and  at  once  turned  his  attention  to  the  situation 
in  which  his  State  had  been  left  by  the  war,  and  by  the 
rapacity  of  those  who  had  come  into  power  by  means  of 
the  bayonet.  Whether  he  used  his  tongue  or  pen,  the 
public  soon  found  out  that  he  had  control  of  that  mys- 
terious power  which  moves  men.  Whether  he  wrote  or 
whether  he  spoke,  he  had  the  gift  and  the  inspiration 
of  eloquence ;  and  from  first  to  last  he  could  never  be 
induced  to  use  this  great  gift  for  his  personal  advance- 
ment, nor  could  he  be  induced  to  accept  a  political 
office.  With  a  mind  entirely  sincere  and  unselfish,  he 
addressed  himself  to  the  work  of  restoring  unity  between 
the  North  and  South,  and  to  putting  an  end  to  the  sec- 


3H 

tional  strife  which  the  politicians  were  skillfully  using 
to  further  their  own  schemes.  He  was  asked  to  be  a 
United  States  senator,  and  refused  ;  he  was  asked  to  be 
a  congressman,  and  refused.  For  the  rest,  he  could 
have  had  any  office  within  the  gift  of  the  people  of 
Georgia  ;  but  he  felt  that  he  could  serve  the  State  and 
the  South  more  perfectly  in  the  way  that  he  had  him- 
self mapped  out.  He  felt  that  the  time  had  come  for 
some  one  to  say  a  bold  and  manly  word  in  behalf  of 
the  American  Union  in  the  ear  of  the  South,  and  to  say 
a  bold  and  manly  word  in  behalf  of  the  South  in  the  ear 
of  the  North.  He  began  this  work,  and  carried  it  on  as 
a  private  citizen  ;  and  the  result  was,  that,  though  he 
died  before  he  had  reached  the  prime  of  his  life,  he  had 
won  a  name  and  a  popularity  in  all  parts  of  the  country, 
both  North  and  South,  that  no  other  private  citizen  had 
ever  before  succeeded  in  winning. 

It  was  Henry  Grady  that  gave  the  apt  name  of  "  The 
New  South"  to  the  spirit  that  his  tireless  energy  and 
enthusiasm  had  called  from  the  dark  depths  of  recon- 
struction. Of  this  spirit,  and  the  movement  that  sprang 
from  it,  he  was  the  prophet,  the  pioneer,  the  promoter. 
He  saw  the  South  poor  in  the  midst  of  the  most  abun- 
dant resources  that  Providence  ever  blessed  a  people 
with,  and  he  turned  aside  from  politics  to  point  them 
out.  He  saw  the  people  going  about  in  deep  despair, 
and  he  gave  them  the  cue  of  hope,  and  touched  them 
with  his  own  enthusiasm.  He  saw  the  mighty  indus- 
trial forces  lying  dormant,  and  his  touch  awoke  them  to 
life.  He  saw  great  enterprises  languishing,  and  he 
called  the  attention  of  capital  to  them.  Looking  far- 


315 

ther  afield,  he  saw  the  people  of  two  great  sections  for- 
getting patriotism  and  duty,  and  reviving  the  prejudices 
and  issues  that  had  led  to  the  war,  and  that  had  con- 
tinued throughout  the  war ;  and  he  went  about  among 
them,  speaking  words  of  peace  and  union, — appealing 
to  the  spirit  of  patriotism  which  held  the  Northern  and 
Southern  people  together  when  they  were  building  the 
Republic,  when  they  stood  side  by  side  amid  the  suffer- 
ings of  Valley  Forge,  and  when  they  saw  the  army  of  a 
mighty  monarch  surrender  to  the  valor  of  American 
soldiers  at  Yorktown.  With  the  enthusiasm  of  a  mis- 
sionary and  the  impetuous  zeal  of  an  evangelist,  he  went 
about  rebuking  the  politicians,  and  preaching  in  behalf 
of  peace,  union,  and  genuine  patriotism. 

Such  was  the  mission  of  Henry  W.  Grady,  and  the 
work  that  he  did  will  live  after  him.  "The  New  South" 
will  cease  to  be  new,  but  the  people  will  never  cease  to 
owe  him  a  debt  of  gratitude  for  the  work  that  he  did  in 
urging  forward  the  industrial  progress  of  this  region, 
and  in  making  peace  between  the  sections.  He  was 
the  builder,  the  peacemaker. 


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